/ 

SPIRIT LIFE 



THEODORE PARKER, 



NARRATED BY HIMSELF, 



THROUGH THE MEDIUMSHIP OF 



MISS ELIZABETH RAMSDELL. 




BOSTON: 
PRINTED FOR THE AUTHOR. 

1870. 






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// 



PREFACE. 



The circumstances and conditions under which this book 
was written render their brief narration important, in jus- 
tice both to the medium and the inspiring intelligence. 

It is due to the medium, a lady of unimpeachable integ- 
rity and candor, because, whatever judgment unbiased 
criticism may render upon the statements and sentiments 
herein contained, or their form of expression, as corrobora- 
tive, or otherwise, of their purported authorship, it is quite 
certain that Miss Eamsdell can not, under the circumstances, 
be deemed to have originated them. 

It is due to the invisible author, because the limitations 
imposed upon the utterance of his thoughts by the peculi- 
arities of the medium's organization, and her limited literary 
culture, must necessarily have modified his effort. 

Miss Sarah A. E-amsdell, the amanuensis of this volume, 
was, at the time of her development as a medium, engaged 
with her sister in the business of dressmaking at Lake 
City, Minn. Attending by invitation two or three spirit- 
ual circles, she found herself, at one of these gatherings, 
thrown into a semi-trance condition, and powerfully im- 
pelled to write the thoughts that crowded upon her mind. 

3 



4 PREFACE. 

This she did ; and the result was, at several sittings, the 
production of short essays upon various subjects, purporting 
to be dictated by Theodore Parker in spirit-life. 

Miss Ramsdell had no acquaintance whatever with the 
history, character, or writings of Mr. Parker. She had heard 
of him, in a general way, but had never had occasion to 
know or think of him particularly. Some of these essaj^s 
were published in a spiritual journal, and others read before 
public assemblies in different places ; being received with 
decided pleasure and appreciation. In the spring of 1869, 
the author announced his intention of writing a history of 
his spirit-life ; but it was not commenced until the autumn 
of the same year. 

When writing, the medium experiences great exaltation 
of feeling ; a glow of intense pleasurable activity of the 
mental faculties, through which, thoughts and language 
seem to flow as from an inexhaustible fountain, without 
obstruction, save from the difficulty of writing fast enough 
to keep the stream of inspiration within the channel of 
language. Although intensely conscious of her occupation, 
she is so absorbed in it as to be practically unconscious of 
what is transpiring around her. The writing continues at 
each sitting so long as the mental control is retained by 
the spirit-author, and is resumed whenever a premonition 
of his desire to communicate is received. 

Having enjoyed no other advantages of education than 
those afforded by a common school in the country twenty- 
five years ago, Miss Ramsdell has never been ambitious of 
literary distinction ; nor had the thought of authorship ever 



PREFACE. 5 

crossed her mind. Finding herself thus unexpectedly se- 
lected for what she believes to be an important and benefi- 
cent work, she desires, in humility, to prove faithful to her 
spirit-guide ; and therefore publishes this work at his desire. 
Having verified many of the facts communicated to her by 
the spirit, and feeling positive of his identity through the 
evidence interiorly imparted to her, she proposes still further 
to co-operate with him in these efforts to enlighten the 
world upon the great subject of man's spiritual nature and 
relations. 

This work is one of a large and constantly-accumulating 
class of volumes purporting to be written or constructed in 
the spiritual world by authors who were once mortal inhab- 
itants of the earth. Their intrinsic character alone will be 
the test by which the critical mind wiD judge of the proba- 
ble truthfulness of these claims. It is not, however, at all 
incompatible with honesty and good faith on the part of the 
mediums, if the books thus written should not, in all cases, 
justify their claim of authorship. 

The psychological border-land between the spheres of 
spiritual and mundane existence has not been yet so thor- 
oughly explored as to enable any one in the body to dog- 
matize upon the conditions under which mortals and immor- 
tals may best meet and hold communion together. They 
who have passed from earth seem in our day and geDeration 
to be experimenting in this direction ; and the crude results 
of their experiments, in the various forms of manifestation 
now so common, are properly the subject of patient study 
by those to whom they are submitted. 



THE SPIRIT-LIFE OF THEODORE PARKER. 



In giving my spirit-life to the world, I have two points 
at issue. First I desire to show to the world my present 
existence, outside, untrammeled, and for ever from the flesh ; 
show my whereabouts, condition, and occupation in my pres- 
ent locality. Now, in order to do this, I must get entire 
possession of my medium, through which my light will 
shine to the world. I must have her confidence, will, sight, 
and hearing ; must let loose my cable, and draw her to the 
spirit-world ; I must give her a tangible insight to my 
present sphere of use. This book contains my experience 
from 1854 until 1869, a period of fifteen years. I have been 
casting about for some time for the conditions by which I 
could labor to advantage. I now hope to give a work to the 
public that will be instructive, and worthy of a wide circu- 
lation. 

The second point at issue is the development of the lady 
under my control, — a lady of great mediumistic worth, pos- 
sessing rare powers in the background, to be brought for- 
ward when the demand calls for them. 

Fraternally yours, 

Theodore Parker. 

[Given through the mediumship of Miss Sarah A. Eamsdell when in a 
semi-trance condition, 1869.] 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. — My Spirit Home 11 

CHAPTER II. — The Duties of Spirit-life 14 

CHAPTER III 17 

CHAPTER IV 19 

CHAPTER V . . 22 

CHAPTER VI 24 

CHAPTER VII 28 

CHAPTER VIII 30 

CHAPTER IX 32 

CHAPTER X 37 

CHAPTER XI 39 

CHAPTER XII 41 

CHAPTER XIII. 44 

CHAPTER XIV 48 

CHAPTER XV 49 

CHAPTER XVI . . 51 

CHAPTER XVII 53 

CHAPTER XVIII 55 

CHAPTER XIX 59 

CHAPTER XX 60 

CHAPTER XXI 61 



10 CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER XXII 63 

CHAPTER XXIII 64 

CHAPTER XXIV 66 

CHAPTER XXV 67 

CHAPTER XXVI .68 

CHAPTER XXVII 70 

CHAPTER XXVIII 71 

CHAPTER XXIX 72 

CHAPTER XXX 73 

CHAPTER XXXI 74 

CHAPTER XXXII 75 

CHAPTER XXXIII . 76 

CHAPTER XXXIV 77 

CHAPTER XXXV. — An Appendix to the Foregoing Wokk . 78 

CHAPTER XXXVI 79 

CHAPTER XXXVII 80 

CHAPTER XXXVin 81 

CHAPTER XXXIX 82 

CHAPTER XL 83 



THE SPIEIT-LIFE 

OF 

THEODORE PARKER. 



CHAPTER I. 



MY SPIRIT-HOME. 



Home is a word we love to linger on ; it brings around 
our hearts a confiding trust and repose ; it is a word 
above all others most beautiful ; it touches the heart 
with new springs of action, lights up our saddest mo- 
ments, and flings its halo of peace around the troubled 
waters of life. The word " home " thrills our whole 
emotional nature ; it gushes through our hearts like the 
rich cadence of some woodland bird, pouring forth its 
joy in song. My spirit-home, — it spreads around me like 
an ocean in repose, bathes me with the effulgent rajs 
of a summer's noontide glory ; it fathoms my every wish 
and thought, finds me wherever in space the line of my 
research takes me ; it fills my whole being with delight, 
and wafts me on to higher realms of thought. My spir- 
it-home ! ever fling your wealth of beauty around me, 
ever take me to your heart's deepest treasures of wealth 
and knowledge to the soul, ever bear me on the wings 
of love to fathom the mysterious courts hung out in 



11 



12 THE SPIRIT-LIFE OP 

space, fling out thy starry petals of love to catch the 
wayfaring children of earth, and bring them to a haven 
of repose where earth's temptations can not affect the 
soul. Thy gleaming lights are spread around my feet, 
are hoisted high above my head, spread far and wide to 
catch the onward march of mind. My spirit-home ! 
thy deep-seated attributes of truth and love I would 
now speak. I would now hold my spirit-life out to the 
world, to be tested by the hand of science, and fath- 
omed by God's delving-rod of philosophical merit. I 
would have the truth of my individualization now and 
for evermore a settled fact on earth. For me to say 
here, to declare through my present medium, that I still 
possess the blessing of life, still possess every attribute 
of mind, still possess the key-note to endless progres- 
sion, is not enough for the world to-day. I must bring 
forth evidence sufficient to substantiate my claim, I 
must lay aside every barrier, and step back to the world 
— Theodore Parker. When I cast off my worn-out 
physical nature, I was under sunny skies, tended by 
earth's ministering angels of love and mercy. Every 
care that earth could give was freely bestowed; but 
the law of Nature required her own, and I was forced 
to give up my earthly tabernacle, forced to enter on a 
new mission. I did not do that willingly, I felt I was 
being defrauded ; felt that the earth from which I was 
being removed was full of mysteries that I had hoped to 
fathom. I felt, that, deep w 7 ithin her receptacles, were 
truths for me to reach. I did not suppose, from the 
knowledge I then possessed, that the power would still 
be left me. I supposed that my labors would tend to the 
future ; that earth would hold nothing in common for me ; 



THEODORE PARKER. 13 

that we were wide apart ; that her storehouse of treas- 
ures would be closed against me ; that far away in space 
I should find my work. I felt confident there was no 
power to chain my mind ; but I desired a longer earth- 
experience ; desired a wider cope with theology ; de- 
sired to bring Nature to combat, and show wherein the- 
ology had been weaving a web to get tangled in. I had 
been reared, or rather I had reared, a free platform 
whereon I could stand, and wait for truths to come to 
the rescue. I knew that error w r ould surely be washed, 
and I desired a life of materiality to help do the work. 
I now thank my God that the wish was denied me, for, 
in being removed from earth, I was brought nearer to 
her. I find myself holding more knowledge of God's 
laws than earth could have given me in the space of 
time ; I find myself invested with a power to unlock the 
scientific world, which years of research on earth would 
have only partially developed. I am brought nearer to 
earth by my desire to fathom all the mysteries of cause 
and effect, to uproot every hidden principle in her king- 
dom, to bring Nature to the platform for a thorough in- 
vestigation into all her subtle chambers wherein God 
has placed «, key to unlock the passages that lead from 
" nature up to nature's God." My soul drinks in the 
beauties of earth with new delight, takes up her pages 
of worth, and reads God's messages of love spread 
broadcast and free. O thou God in nature ! to thee 
we look for truths to lead us up to thy throne eternal ; to 
thee we look for a basis-ground to rear our tabernacle 
of trust and repose ; to thee my soul goes back with its 
divine afflatus of strength to leave no corner unsearched, 
no background in thy broad arena unculled. I must 



14 THE SPIRIT-LIFE OF 

have thy treasured wealth, O eartli ! to lead me up the 
steps of scientific exploration, — a field wherein all could 
gather strength and courage for the battle of life. 



CHAPTER II. 

THE PUTIES OF SPIEIT-LIFE. 

In the foregoing chapter, I alluded to my present 
ability to visit earth, or, rather, to the fact that earth holds 
me still by the power of social attraction and available 
truths, that I must have in order to culminate a pur- 
pose which God has in store for me. My duty lies in 
my ability, in my power to see and realize what is re- 
quired of me. God gave me a mind of research, and 
also gave me the power back of mind, the impetus of 
will, to aid me in pulling down theories, and establishing 
facts. Where God has given much, much is required. 
My innate power of comprehension throws much re- 
sponsibility around my soul. I am laboring to establish 
a free platform, whereon every person can stand and 
drink from the perennial spring of knowledge, unbiased 
or untrammeled by creeds. My duties lead in that 
direction. The sophistry of covering up truths and 
promulgating error is time-worn and unprofitable ; the 
hungry mind is becoming fastidious. The sugar-coating 
of egotism and self-delusion does not disguise the bitter 
pill of partial destruction. The mind is no longer will- 
ing to be fed from that source of enjoyment. There 



THEODORE PARKER. 15 

is a disposition to break in on a new field, where sympa- 
thetic emotion can be felt, and the brain not paralyzed for 
want of the proper digestive nutriment. I may be fool- 
hardy to advance my system at the present time ; but 
" nothing venture, nothing have " is a true saying, and 
one I ever held to. My duty as a free-thinking, indi- 
vidualized character, surmounts every obstacle of policy, 
or any undue solicitude of public favor. Justice re- 
quires of me a full and descriptive detail of my present 
power to serve God and mammon ; or, in other words, 
to serve the kingdom of heaven by direct taxation on 
earth. I propose to divide my spirit-life into two cantos. 
The first shall embrace a portion of time while I was in 
the body, a wanderer on earth, with a spirit embodiment 
distinct in space. The second canto will take in my 
spiritual state, independent of my earth-form. A few 
years previous to my leaving earth (as the saying goes), 
I took up a new phase of life. I determined to live 
the religion I taught ; determined to embrace the 
Christ-principle in all the deeds done in the body ; de- 
termined to foster no ill-will to any one, to bind on 
my armor of trust and confidence in my own integrity 
of purpose to reach the standard to which I aimed. My 
spiritual existence was just as much a fact to me then as 
now. I knew the interior being was the true man ; I 
knew, as soon as dissolution of the body took place, I 
was winged for flight; I knew that the outstretch of 
worlds were within the pale of my research ; that eter- 
nity awaited me with its varied experiences that I must 
pass through ; and I determined to make my life one of 
duty, and reap my pleasures from that channel. Life 
always wore its serious face for me. I never could trifle 



16 THE SPIRIT-LIFE OF 

with time : it always seemed precious in my sight. 
Earth held charms for me I can never forget ; and, 
while I sought in the flesh to advance every Christian 
principle that came within my scope of experience, I 
also sought a life to correspond with my teachings. Up 
to 1854, my biographers would state my harassed con- 
dition of mind, and my unwavering determination to 
push my theory through every obstacle that impeded 
light to my famished soul. Creeds dropped away from 
me very easily, because they were not consistent with 
God's plan of salvation, which was to draw all nations 
unto himself in the fullness of his own time. I could 
not believe in a partial God that was so far removed 
from justice and right that I was never crucified in that 
direction. God ever rose above any impulse or change 
in my estimate of his characteristics. He was the im- 
perishable seed, rooted firm and deep in every thing 
bearing life. The Bible version of God wraps him in 
mystery. Now, if I am to have a Saviour outside of 
any power of my own, I desire a full and complete 
knowledge of that Saviour. Nothing short will satisfy 
me, because I am so constituted, so organized, that mys- 
teries contain no charm for me ; and never can I wor- 
ship a being clothed with attributes that do not reach 
my soul. Up to the period last stated, the world looked 
on me as an interloper ; considered me averse to the 
Christian religion, because I could not subscribe to 
creeds; called me fanatic, a chosen one to mete out 
destruction to a people who received religion second- 
handed from God, and done up more to suit emergen- 
cies than as an appeal to reason, or as a guide to our 
wandering footsteps. Thus, while the outside world 



THEODORE PARKER. 17 

condemned me, I sought my convictions of right from 
nature, and my own innate purity of purpose. 

The year 1854 found ine a settled pastor over a peo- 
ple living within the confines of Boston. I was chosen 
there to give light to a few that needed rest from the- 
ologv. Their souls were famishing for the bread of 
life outside of the written testimony. Allegory was 
losing its power to succor the mind. Those few souls 
that needed me found me willing and ready to advance 
my theory of Unitarian salvation. I made my platform as 
broad as possible, and still it could not reach my wants. 
My hearers must have realized the dissatisfaction bear- 
ing down on me. I wanted to fly away from even that 
small restraint of creed. I wanted a worship that could 
take every soul to the altar of truth where no binding 
cord could lay its unction of claim. 



CHAPTER III. 

The parish over which I presided could not accept 
my theory only half-way. The bare outlines held them 
while I was drinking from the fountain inexhaustible, 
and trying to purify the outward channels that moved 
society. My life found its pleasures in the sure knowl- 
edge I W as gaining of the true religion. My labors 
were not thankless as far as the outward manifestations 
were displayed. I had many warm and genial friends, 
who took my counsel and advice as something needed 
about their souls. They, no doubt, thought me wild 



18 THE SPIRIT-LIFE OF 

and radical after my outreach after principles that to 
them seemed unnecessary to carry on a work of Chris- 
tian duty ; but the impetus that led me ever hore the 
stamp of success. I do not know why it is ; hut my mind 
wanders out on the chain of endless progression. I feel 
that there is truth somewhere for every noble impulse 
of my mind to grasp. I feel like taking earth on my 
journey of research, and making her castles of error 
disburse their flimsy stock of truth. I know my journey 
leads up many a steep and rugged path ; but my soul 
puts on its armor of defiance, and I walk gladly on. 
We too often let our souls lag for want of a purpose to 
claim our attention, and start us forward to find our end 
of God's progressive law. I never look back on my 
earth-experience but to find fault with my gleanings. 
Her pastures green should have fed me with more mo- 
tive power for action. I was too inefficient in my own 
strength. My energies should have been nursed by the 
thunderbolt of Puritanic discord ; I never should have 
slumbered over a gulf of uncertainty ; I should have 
sought my shadowed future for seeds of truth to 
have planted by the wayside, and made green every 
field of labor wherein rested a doubt of ultimate suc- 
cess. But my friends in Boston and vicinity must 
drink from the fountain of perpetual youth, made clear 
and plain by the ovations of hope, presented by the 
lao-o-ing; energies of Theodore Parker. I shall culmi- 
nate a purpose in your midst, that, fifteen years ago, 
seemed likely to terminate in defeat. I shall hoist my 
flag of truce, and come over to the enemy's quarters 
with a diligence-express bearing the seeds of promise 
that must root and grow in your midst. 



THEODORE PARKER. 19 



CHAPTER IV. 

It may be well to state my determination to push my 
theory in and about every triumphant seat of error in 
the land. I shall adopt the ways and means that I 
can best command. I shall send forth my speakers 
whenever I can harness them with my individuality, 
whenever I can control the synopsis of their fete with- 
out injury to any part of their being. This is a work 
that few in spirit-life undertake, because it is fraught 
with such uncertain results. There is no power to hold 
me back from duty. I must use my lever of strength to 
suit the demand of the times. I must lay my unction 
of hope on the altar of well doing, and abide by the re- 
sults of my labors. I must grasp every tree that bears 
a branch of use to help carry on my work of destruc- 
tion, to help lay aside the fettered yoke of ignorance 
and superstition. I would that my friends on the earth- 
plane could realize how much of my energetic hope is 
vested in their welfare, how much my spirit clings 
around the vesper-chimes of bygone days, how much I 
feel for the welfare of the world that gave me birth, 
how I cling to those old associations that bridge up the 
past with the present and future, how I long to break 
the spell, and let the captive world free to drink from 
the fountain that never runs dry ! I must await the 
prestige of time, that ever deals gently and truly with 
the purposes of eternity. It may be remembered by 
my biographers, that, late in the fall of 1850, I was at- 
tacked with hemorrhage of the lungs ; that it was con- 



20 THE SPIRIT-LIFE OF 

sidered advisable for me to flee to some warmer clime ; 
that the terror of earth was bearing down on me with 
sure success. I witnessed the innovations of the de- 
stroyer with feelings that bordered on madness. I saw 
my sustaining props leaving me one by one, saw my in- 
efficiency to keep my body before the public, saw the 
sure destruction of my earthly tabernacle ; and I wa- 
vered in my idea of a just God. I started on my tour 
of investigation for ways and means to patch up the 
outward man, while the inner citadel of strength could 
pull away the obsolete theories that were traveling 
through the world without purpose or aim. I visited 
Santa Cruz, and found in her utmost limits of sunshine 
and shadow no spiral wreath of hope for me. The mys- 
tic touches of a funeral-pyre looked me in the face. I 
tried to think myself submissive ; tried, to see my way 
clear through the drifting events that were crowding 
around me ; tried to think my duty lay in submission : 
but the calmness that was presented to the world was 
all on the fading surface. When I saw my physical 
power departing from me without regard to any skill 
of man, I formed a resolution to break away from the 
bonds of the Church. I thought, on entering on my 
untried mission, that I would have no binding cord but 
the one of friendship left on earth and in my heart. I 
had grown away from every restraint of church creed ; 
I had no friendship for the tie ; it hung around me like 
an error that my judgment disapproved of; it had its 
mountain-weight of infidelity to truth. I could not see 
my way clear while I had that attachment of inefficient 
aid; it bound me outwardly with its influence, while 
my mind was walking bold and upright away from the 



THEODORE PARKER. 21 

restraint. Let me here state, as an axiom of truth, that 
no individualized mind capable of ferreting out the ways 
and means to the true salvation should allow the stain 
of creed to mar the surface of the free torch presented 
to the world. I do not say there should be no syste- 
matic course in conducting Christianity on earth ; but I 
do say, let there be a broad basis of freedom underlying 
every institution that gathers the seeds of the Christian 
religion into its fold of worship. I do say, let Christ 
triumph, let his spirit enter every church-door with 
every individual entrance, and creed would soon drop 
from our midst, and we would find our way securely, 
supported by the props of love and duty to each other. 
The Christian religion was entered upon in the days 
when mind was in its infancy of attainment and research, 
when barbaric ignorance was creeping away from 
Christ's fold of love and mercy. The Christian religion 
has worked its way, step by step, into the soul-element 
of humanity ; has dug its way through every stage of 
development of mind and matter to the present time in 
the world's history ; and each offshoot from the old 
Mecca of intolerant despotism has taken a broader plat- 
form of liberal thought, and every outreach of princi- 
ple has gathered more love into its stringent receptacles. 
The world has carried on her work with even-handed 
justice and mercy ; no serious outgushes of fanatic dis- 
cord have disturbed the social elements of her quiet 
ways. 



22 THE SPIRIT-LIFE OF 



CHAPTER V. 



The law of affinity has worked through every gene- 
ration ; the mind has affinitized with the element of 
success through every stage of harmonial design. The 
law of affinity has never been brought to bear on the 
conflicting elements that fashion the creed-bound world ; 
all harmonious feeling has been disregarded ; the mind 
has been coerced by dogmatic fancies ; literal destruc- 
tion, partial destruction, and God's sustaining grace, 
held forth for all to taste that willed, on the condition 
of church-security from the temptations of Satan, who 
was laboring to establish an institution that would run 
parallel with God's seat of glory. I often thought, 
while traveling my round of earthly duties, that the 
true and honest piety of heart was found in the by-ways 
of poverty. I have seen many a true soul struggling 
away from the Tempter, — struggling to maintain the 
outward respectability to harmonize with the interior 
integrity of purpose ; and I say, " Of such is the king- 
dom of heaven." Such have wrought out their seat 
of honor by the self-sacrificing spirit of Christ ; such are 
ready to enter on the holy mission of soul-redemption 
from the bondage of sin ; and such are ready to lend a 
sustaining hand of help to those of weaker spiritual pur- 
poses in life. God's sustaining arm of progressive law 
hoists a flag of success for every individual. The mean- 
dering finger of Time works us through the earth-expe- 
rience with vigilant dexterity, that notes every bar let 
down that lends a chance of egress to the enemy of 



THEODORE PARKER. 23 

success. The List few years of my earth-experience 
are fraught with sadness. My soul starts back on its 
retrograde movement to patch up the deformities that 
stand out apparent and bold, unprotected by earth's 
sophistries ; that cover up rather than eradicate the er- 
rors born in her vineyard. My ministerial career in 
Boston binds me to that locality with unerring precision 
of movement. I started to do a work there that the 
hand of Time cat short. My friends tried their utmost 
skill of purse, advice, counsel, and every free gift of 
heart-and-mind dictation to keep me with them in form 
while I promulgated the seeds their hungry souls thirsted 
for. Their realms of thought were expanding under 
the homoeopathic doses of liberal food distilled from 
nature and from humanity at large. They were not 
contented to sit under their own vine and fig-tree as 
long as it sprouted errors that reason held unprofitable. 
I well remember hearing Rufus Choate expound the 
science of religion. He was an able exponent in finan- 
cial and political matters ; but Theology stood her ground 
with him. His basis of salvation was the atoning blood 
of Christ; but methinks, when Rufus Choate found him- 
self winged for his spiritual platform, that the wide dif- 
fusion of Christ's blood never entered into his compact 
of salvation. The reason of my introducing Rufus 
Choate here at this time and in this place is to ex- 
pound a little on the ideas he put forth in the article 
above mentioned. The great orator, gifted as few are 
with eloquence that burned into the soul, left his lever 
of strength unsheathed and folded away. Rufus Choate, 
in spirit-realms, is searching deep and wide for the im- 
perishable grains that lie will drop on earth in due time. 



24 THE SPIRIT-LIFE OF 

The wily chief that darkens the doorway of faitli must 
soon loose his dexterous skill : he has too long held the 
reins in governmental power, wherein the inner life of 
man is concerned. The science of religion, to the mind 
of Rufus Choate, appeared in tracing the bare outlines 
of man's historic career set forth in Holy Writ. Had 
he taken as deep a research in theology as he did in 
law, he would have culled his science from a broader 
field. Now, the science laid down in ancient history, 
and promulgated as the basis-ground for truth J has no 
more to do with the true religion — the religion of 
Christ's deeds of love — than it has in carrying us the 
overland route to California or Kamtschatka Isle, or any 
other remote region. It would seem more like a bar 
put up to impede our progress in the right channel. 
That book of saving grace is filled with scattered relics 
of pagan industry, compiled without regard to system, 
forethought, or knowledge ; and still it answers for a 
basis-ground of hope for the salvation of the whole hu- 
man family, or the basis-ground of destruction for as 
many as do not subscribe to creeds. 



CHAPTER VI. 

Since I have been an inhabitant of the spirit-world, 
I have sought no discussive ground in a w T ay that peo- 
ple fully understood my powei* and ability to deal with 
the errors of theology to an extent that earth never 
gave me. Now I propose to build up a fortress of 



THEODORE PARKER. 25 

strength, and pick my way through every department 
of theology. I propose to keep reason uppermost 
in the chase after truth. I propose to discuss the 
science of religion in a way, that every shade of basis- 
ground will disappear from ancient history, and take 
lodgement in the under-current of Christ's teachings. 
When Herodotus pushed his vigilant war through the 
Egyptian temples of hideous errors, he was only laying 
waste the bulwarks that sustained the festering rubbish 
of knight-errantry and the kingly power of ignorant 
assumption. Herodotus, in bringing the Egyptians to 
acknowledge his power, opened an avenue for the light 
of Christianity. Lycurgus was another heathen ex- 
plorer, that delved deep in fanaticism, picked his way 
through the cruelties of an Egyptian court, and came 
forth purified as a brand from the burning. Every 
age has had its monument of strength in the heart 
and purity of purpose in some individual, who puts 
up the bar of progress at every stage of advancement 
the world takes on. The old heathen philosophers 
swept their boards clear of any stucco or varnish of 
liberal sentiment. They believed in the holy wrath of 
God's imperishable wisdom, manifested in his instru- 
ments of humanity. Heathen philosophers were averse 
to any code of liberal teachings. Their intolerance and 
ignorant superstition barred up all avenues from the 
light of Christian duty manifested toward each other. 
Their fire-gods and corrupt fetich of barbaric splendor, 
served their coarse and uncultured minds. They sup- 
posed, in serving graven images likened to the God- 
head, — whose superhuman skill at concealment they 
could not fathom, — they were building a power on 



2G THE SPIRIT-LIFE OF 

earth that God would recognize with great pleasure. 
Barbarity, in any form, has no part in the Christian 
religion. It had its birth-hour when mind was steeped 
in the gross material of earth ; when the soul was 
thought to take form in some planet, and the ruling 
spirit that assumed the greatest range of cruelty and 
power was expected to come forth from the second 
birth a representation of the higher constellations ; and 
thus you see the basis-ground for salvation to the hea-» 
then world was distinctive merit in cruelty. The starry 
pillar of truth was too far in the advance for their mud- 
dled vision to control. Lycurgus made way for the reign 
of Csesar, the world-renowned conqueror, with the stamp 
of humanity underlying all his victories. The life of 
Csesar is an illustrated boon of strength to the world ; 
his fortitude, perseverance, and courage to maintain the 
supremacy of power, and foster in its midst the spirit of 
Christ. That increeping spirit of the loving Jesus has 
gathered new sprigs of worth to gladden the heart of 
every advance stage in knowledge. That is the basis- 
ground that has reared success, and the basis-ground 
that will maintain success throughout all time and eter- 
nity. Let me here enlarge upon that principle in hu- 
manity, because that is what will constitute our heaven, 
whether on the earth-plane, or when earth shall have 
yielded up the true man to the infinite seat of progress. 
What is there in the whole life of Jesus but love, mani- 
fested through every channel wherein he had a purpose 
to aid humanity ? He never stopped for motives. The 
fervid outgushes of love ever impelled his movements ; 
his words of chastisement were ever given with a basis 
of love to further their import. Both Jew and Gentile 



THEODORE PARKER. 27 

were served alike from his storehouse of love. He spread 
his table alike for all that came within his knowledge of 
research. It was no flimsy coating to disguise a bitter 
pill, but a free gift from a heajt overflowing with kind- 
ness. His self-abnegating spirit made success over 
temptation an easy matter. The power of the destroy- 
ing ansrel had no charms for him. He was incased in 
the armor of holy purposes. He meant his life should 
be an example to the world in which he lived. He in- 
herited his meek and loving spirit from his mother 
Mary, and his intrepid daring from his father Joseph. 
His power to perform miracles was his mediumistic 
worth. Spirits ever found him accessible. He was so 
imbued with the attributes of the higher life, that his 
guardian spirits impressed his whole being with his 
holy mission to humanity. He lived in the two worlds. 
Death had no victory over him. The higher life was 
his home, and death the doorway through which he 
must pass. That knowledge, taken to the heart and 
soul as Jesus took it in, would bless humanity with di- 
vine purposes to each other. We are not so unlike 
Jesus as we suppose. We have the crustations of self- 
ishness to contend with which Jesus did not possess ; 
and we have the illiberal sentiments of ghastly theology 
that dares to pick places in the vast storehouse of eter- 
nity, where some must wrestle with destruction, and 
cry out for the God of Israel to have compassion on 
their souls, with no answering response from a God who 
immolates his Son on the shrine of affection for hu- 
manity. Jesus had no such theology to contend with. 
His disciples and followers were ignorant of creeds. If 
Jesus was the true Messiah, they- were all willing to ac- 



28 THE SPIRIT-LIFE OF 

cept him ; were willing to give up their burnt-offerings 
and sacrificial altars, and accept Christ as their light. All 
they asked was assurance of his genuineness to serve 
them. They had no boitled-up portions of excellence 
that clamored for upper seats in God's kingdom, with 
egotistical assurance of superior merit. Those olden 
times had the merit of simplicity of heart. What they 
lacked in culture and refinement they showed forth in 
courage and zeal to maintain some fortress of strength 
for future use. 



CHAPTER VII. 

In the crucifixion of Christ, there is a great deal of 
allegorical matter, — a great deal of the spurious mixed 
witli the true. His advent into life was no miraculous 
interposition of Providence ; it was merely the process 
of natural law, through which he became manifest to the 
world : and his exit from earth followed on his failing to 
meet the demand of the ignorant classes that he had to 
deal with. His ascension was no physical flight, but a 
soul-redemption from sin, but portrayed in the figurative 
language of flesh and blood. It does seem as though 
the nineteenth century should be above the supposition 
of crude materiality entering the precincts of heaven. 
There is no law to sustain matter above the confines of 
earth. Christ died, was buried ; and his redeemed spirit 
went on its mission to fathom the world that was already 
familiar to him by his pure and unassuming earth-life. 
Christ's element of success was recognized more after 



THEODORE PARKER. 29 

liis departure from earth. That spirit of meek forbear- 
ance troubled the hearts of his disciples : they began to 
realize his worth, and miss the charm of his presence; 
and would, no doubt, have recalled him, could such have 
been. But the death of Christ at that time was auspi- 
cious for the world's improvement : his hol} r spirit sur- 
mounts every difficulty that bars the road to progress. 
Christ is the illuminated page that will ever be read to 
advantage. The history of Christ is the history of a 
redeemed spirit on earth, — the history of all pure and 
holy purposes embodied in earth-form. As an example 
of purity, power, and self-abnegation, Christ has never 
been excelled; and, though ages may roll along the 
track of time, there may not be another such combina- 
tion of holy assurance given to humanity. There is a 
spell around his name that will ever lend its influence 
around society. Let Christ be man or angel, it matters 
not : he has been the sustaining strength in every reform 
since Calvary reared her ebon cross to stain the charac- 
ter of her written testimony. The Jewish nation la- 
bored to establish a broader basis of salvation for the 
human family. Christ seemed inefficient to them as a 
Saviour and Redeemer : they sought an embodiment of 
external power. They could not appreciate the indwell- 
ing Spirit of saving grace : the external world was all 
they could fathom to secure support to their upward 
career of worldly achievements. Power to them was 
distinctive glory in heaven ; and, as Christ assumed no 
wordly distinction or honors, they thought him an inter- 
loper, not capable of serving them : therefore they sought 
and obtained his overthrow. And, to this day, the 
Jewish nation remains unreconciled to any plan of sal- 



30 THE SPIRIT-LIFE OF 

vation : they are wanderers on the face of the earth, 
seeking the divine afflatus still, but with something of 
the old stoicism, that power rules in the kingdom of 
heaven. The Jews have fought dry their well-springs 
of success ; their shattered glory is the Rubicon of error 
over which they have passed. The Jews are merging 
toward extinction ; their holocaust of strength is nearly 
expended ; there is no harmonious element to keep 
peace in their souls ; the dewdrops of the harmonial 
law has never entered their inner lives. The Jewish 
nation will one day become but a ripple on the great 
ocean of time, and eternity will have caught the waif- 
lings to the utter disregard of human will or power. 
Eternity lays its fangs of strength on all of earth's pos- 
sessions, from the tiniest flower to the wide range of 
upheaved mountain skill. All Nature has its part in 
the resurrection morn of ethereal grandeur and syste- 
matic beauty; all Nature drinks from the fountain of the 
unseen ; her spiral points pierce the elements of success 
to sustain her unwearied efforts at perfection. Nature 
goes on in successive routine : it fashions and builds for 
God's storehouse of eternity. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

The widest range of thought is sure to Quench its 
thirst at every passing stream ; gathering new forces and 
beauty for its detail of encounters from one stage of life 
to another. Man little realizes on earth the power given 



THEODORE PARKER. 31 

the mind for expansion : it doubles its growth at every 
sweep in the great ocean of eternity. Were I to say 
here the mind of man possesses the innate seeds, or, in 
other words, the culminating particles, to rear a world, 
I should no doubt be deemed insane; but, nevertheless, 
the hand of science will yet demonstrate the fact to the 
world. I ask, what has reared the world to-day from 
chaotic sameness to its present point of interest and 
beauty, but the mind of man ? But some will say, 
man has only brought out and fashioned what was 
in the beginning. Allowing that to be so, allowing 
the world to be a crucible where man is experiment- 
ing, does it not show conclusively that mind will 
never stop picking in matter until her every recepta- 
cle that contains a seed to sprout and grow is laid 
open for investigation ? And who shall say mind can 
not create when it understands the process of creation ? 
There is no cheat in God's law of development : it is 
systematic process from beginning to end. There are 
no lost keys to any drawer of the material universe, 
and each mind can and will unlock its own particular 
drawer. It is not always easy or best to unlock the 
future before time, or promulgate undue circumstances ; 
but I must throw out this fact here, that time will clothe 
with truth, that, in less than a century of time, the mind 
of man will cope with the external forces to create a 
world. It is no more than mind in eternity, or mind 
disembodied from matter, is capable of doing at the 
present time. My life-history will reveal facts instead 
of fables. It will be no revelation clothed in mystery 
for mind to wander around, and become fogged in its 
attempts to extricate a few grains of truth that reason 



32 THE SPIRIT-LIFE OF 

will find, however deep the rubbish. At the present 
day, spirit-communion is no concealed fact. It is an 
ushering-in of the New Jerusalem ; the time earnestly 
looked for in every generation ; the clad tidings of great 
joy come to bless the world in its spring-time of social 
and moral elevation. It sprouted in the midst of refine- 
ment and wealth; and it will accumulate strength to 
maintain its support, until every locality in the universe 
of matter is sprinkled with its divine afflatus of truth 
and love. 



CHAPTER IX. 

The more I attempt to harness on my earth-life, the 
more barrenness I discover in fields that should- have 
grown ripe to my advantage ; and, but for that old 
theological atmosphere of oppression, I would be wan- 
dering; in fields where now I onlv catch the shadowed 
light. I will refer to my spiritual growth from 1854 to 
1859, shadowed as it was by the conflicting elements 
of time. 1854 found me verging toward a social re- 
form ; or, in other words, seeking to instill the need 
of rendering the social element into the folds of the 
Christian Church. It was like -a galvanic battery to the 
lunatics in an insane asylum. It touched every fiber 
of the world's holy horror of mixing up any thing with 
religion but burnt-offerings in the shape of special 
prayer-meetings, special days of worship, and special 
demagogues or prelates to keep sacred their fold of 
contracted sentiment and pent-up selfishness. Those 



THEODORE PARKER. 33 

days to me were fraught with bitterness of spirit. I 
could not brook the many insults offered me, without 
sinking some of the wormwood and gall into my own 
secret caverns of thought. I well remember the anathe- 
mas raised against me ; well remember the sounding 
clarion of public animosity and hatred that warbled 
forth its discordant notes throughout my field of action. 
I could not labor to advantage in the frozen atmosphere 
of undulating sentiment. It paralyzed the life-blood of 
hope, and chilled the impetuosity of my movements 
toward sustaining my platform of truth toward hu- 
manity. Were I to step back, clothed with the habili- 
ments of earth, or to step back to that point in my life 
where I wrestled with uncertainty in regard to the 
soul's ultimate success over time and eternity, I could 
meet the exigencies of doubt from ten thousand worlds, 
and find myself buoyant in maintaining the platform I 
started on in 1854. The past can never be bridged 
over nor walled up : it will ever remain a thread in the 
great web of life, a reference-mark, keeping our time 
and place in eternity. My past life is one of the dis- 
tinctive elements that holds me to the present and 
future. You can no more get away from the past than 
you can from the future : they are the two diverging 
lines in life, — the one impelling us forward, the other 
holding our march by the law of recompense that never 
fails in its duty toward the children of earth. In start- 
ing on a tour of investigation, we should have our lamps 
trimmed and burning. We should delve as far into the 
future as we can with benefit to our reason ; and, in 
fact, we can not sink logic deeper than reason will hold 
true. Our reason is our safeguard, our monitor of 



34 THE SPIRIT-LIFE OF 

strength, our impelling force to action. Therefore, 
when we would have facts instead of fables, let rea- 
son hold the light to guide the way to knowledge. My 
early years of earth-experience were fool-hardy with 
expectations of a successful career through life. That 
was before I had weighed the public mind by any scales 
but hope. Youth is ever imaginative, ever building airy 
castles to crumble at the breath of public disfavor. My 
life was even-handed as far as I could make it by steady 
application to study, and a determination to overcome 
the prejudice and fanatic discord which came within the 
scope of my experience. My whole earth-career was 
simply a trial adventure, — a breaker put forth to battle 
with the storms and quicksands on the rolling sea of 
life. That I did not fill my measure to completeness 
in earth's diluted beverages of wisdom is now fully 
apparent to me ; and, if that sentence can have any 
weight to the gleaners in earth's vineyards, it will not 
have been uttered in vain. When people start out on 
a platform to evangelize society, they will ever find 
themselves rowing against the current ; will find life 
spicy and full of acrimony ; find themselves a disturbing 
element in the slough-pools of indolent ease, and war- 
ring with the spirit of rest to the world's discomfort, and 
to the world's dread of being found wanting in the 
essential elements to success. I do not regret my earth- 
experiences : they were all needed for my purposes of 
action ; all held out their hand of help to aid in the 
great battle of life. Through trials and tribulations, the 
soul radiates to glory, and also radiates to the true 
worth in humanity. I have friends in Boston and 
vicinity that I visit daily: the cord of love and friend- 



THEODORE PARKER. 85 

ship lias never been severed ; its binding influence 
cheers my onward march. Boston is the acme of 
earth's soluble friendships: it reared my Christian 
growth, and supported my lagging energies when public 
disfavor trampled me with its heel of vengeance. There 
are many hearts in Boston that throw out their silver 
linings for me to catch the reflected purity of their 
souls. In wafting my thoughts backward, I seem to 
catch the welcome glance of friendship, and the prof- 
fered hand of love ; I 'seem to hear the whispered fare- 
well at my departure for the sunny isle that gave me 
rest from suffering beneath her cool and sunny skies. 
When I take up my backward track, there is ever an 
impetus to cheer the local habitations of earth's children 
with the effulgent rays of spirit-commnnion. I can not 
rest me quiet in my spirit-home. I must seek to dispel 
illusory customs of earth ; seek an entrance into the 
fields of theoloo;v, and brave ao;ain the contumacious 
doubting of the world. My seed-time and harvest is 
not completed on earth ; I have only set my stakes, 
and measured out my ground for the present, and am 
awaiting the weather-sweep of time to make favorable 
the conditions for sprouting the seeds which I shall 
promulgate on earth. When Herodotus warred in 
the Egyptian temples of feme, he spilled the Cartha- 
ginian blood of ancestral bigotry and fanaticism. He 
warred with precepts and principles ; he warred with 
the illiberal sentiments of ghastly theology ; he warred 
with the hideous daring of Grecian autocrats, who 
shuffled all responsibility into the church militant, 
which was the cesspool through which all found a 
passage leading to life eternal. Since Herodotus' 



3G THE SPIRIT-LIFE OF 

reign, the camp-fires of a more liberal sentiment have 
lighted ii]) every period in the cycle of time. Hero- 
dotus was a Grecian king, a stipulator for the am- 
nesty of power through the channel of the operative 
law of social reformation. Every age has had its by- 
play to foster the element of progress ; every age has 
suited the action to the word of renovation ; every move 
has been forward march in the line of battalion array. 
The pickets on duty have warned us of every approach 
on the enemy's quarters. And those guards on duty 
clearly discover the lion at bay by the howling demand 
of the successful monster that ever tramples what it 
means to destroy. Let me again refer to the science 
of religion. Let me take up the life-history of religion, 
its time, place, and culture, its advent into the world, 
and its exit therefrom, without a thread left in the old 
loom of ancient mythology. Religion is based on God's 
law of harmony : its fundamental precepts are love, 
hope, and trust ; its organized institutions should be an 
even-handed justice spread broadcast throughout hu- 
manity, and a friendship made soluble by deeds done in 
times of need. Earth should hold no religion, only 
what comports with the highest attributes of man's 
instinctive nature. All other is froth on the surface of 
human wants ; all other is a needless expenditure of 
time and money, as far as fostering the true seeds 
of worship are concerned ; and all other is the harbin- 
ger of the coming wind, that will sweep the chaff from 
its seat of honor. The science of religion, is the master- 
key that will unlock the fountain that has too long been 
cjioked by the accumulated rubbish of all ages of time; 



THEODORE PARKER. 37 

and the clear and purling stream of silvery love and 
friendship will flow from the old despotic fountain of 
selfish inhannony and strife. 



CHAPTER X. 

Religion is a- want to the human mind ; it is a neces- 
sity to the soul, a peace-offering from God to man ; it 
is a sentiment that needs the fostering hand of love to 
keep green. Religion sprang up in the dark ages, when 
the soul craved food to sustain its highest functions of 
being ; when no power but God's, speaking through the 
essential element of humanity, could stay around the 
benighted hearthstone of darkened mythology. God 
speaking in his thunderbolts of terror was losing its 
charm. There was a congenial softening of heart grow- 
ing out of the long-continued rasping and warfare : it 
flooded its own spirit, and gave birth to a new type of 
questionable religion, or questionable theology, because 
religion and theology are two distinctive elements in so- 
ciety, — the one harnesses up a team for show, the other 
picks its way on foot, if need be, but still intent on find- 
ing out the needs of humanity. Religion is an under- 
current that moves along with the tide of fashion ; and 
when fashion sickens, as is ofttimes the case, religion holds 
out her panacea of strength to grasp the sickened soul 
into her haven of rest. Religion is the fundamental 
earthquake that will upheave and demolish every type 
of spurious metal the world takes on as a harness of sal- 



38 THE SPIRIT-LIFE OF 

vation. The advent of the Christian religion, or what is 
termed the Christian era, is a marked period in the 
world's history : it fashioned its growth after the hidden 
teachings of Christ ; it has run parallel with ancient 
history since ancient history assumed the power to save 
mankind. Religion has a sway entirely its own ; it 
never builds from any particular style ; its principles of 
structure are firmly rooted, branching ever in the direc- 
tion of use ; taking up life as best it may, still intent 
in serving for the highest good, aiming always to 
supplant evil by sowing the good seed of loving-kind- 
ness that will root where illiberal dealings can find no en- 
trance. Religion strips herself clear of any outward show 
or manifestation of egotism ; she never takes more than 
her due of credit for favors bestowed ; she asks no high 
tariff of the world's applause ; she simply asks the priv- 
ilege of showing her skill at renovation, at tearing down 
pillars of show, and erecting structures of strength to 
meet the demand of human wants. Religion is a true 
financier, delving in the cesspools of political w T arfare, 
and toning up the moral functions of the parties in 
power. Religion is destined to sweep the board of pub- 
lic welfare of all the rubbish of false pretense and all 
false stars that shine to no purpose in life. Religious 
culture is the ebb and flow of the tidal waves of cur- 
rent events that fashion the world we live in ; religious 
culture would string our lives with pearls did we but 
let go of self long enough to grasp the true essence of 
her mission. She can not feed us with the true light of 
revelation until we open our hearts to receive the light 
from her many-hued tapers that are spread broadcast 
and free. There is no tax to be paid on our gleanings 



THEODORE PARKER. 39 

in religious culture ; we can take all we can digest with- 
out fear of its hurting our digestive functions. It is a 
harmless remedy for all the ills of life ; it clears our 
pathway of all false rubbish, of all graven images, sprouted 
for no use to the soul's salvation, but a lumbering car 
filled with weapons of destruction to slay our peace and 
comfort. Religion grasps our true life ; it sprouts no 
other for us to cling to ; it radiates around no false pre- 
cepts or examples ; it tunes its harp for the great choir 
of humanity. Religion has set its seal of contempt on 
all false doctrines that soothe us to slumber over an 
abyss of doubt and uncertainty. No false coloring suits 
the majestic grandeur of her quiet ways ; she feels no 
impulse for a life of double dealing ; she sips the nectar 
of truth from God's vast arena of nature, and fills every 
heart that is open to receive the free and proffered gift. 



CHAPTER XI. 

Nothing can so suit the heart of humanity, nothing 
can so delve around all selfishness, nothing so pick its 
way to the spirit of unrest, as the true and shining 
light of religion. It garners its stores with always a 
door left open for the w 7 ayfarer who is being pelted by 
the storms of adversity. Christ was a religious man 
from intuition. His spirit sought the wants of human 
nature ; he affinitized with the highest element in hu- 
manity ; he ever sought the world's vortex of confiding 
trust, in the highest means to serve the greatest good. 
Christ left his spirit of religion to bless the world ; he 



40 THE SPIRIT-LIFE OF 

left his footprints of princely daring and virtues to guide 
the< stranded ones of earth to their haven of safety. There 
never has been a light, in the world that has shone so 
radiantly, lighting up all the by-ways, sending its halo 
of glory into all desolate places, and weaving its web of 
royal brightness to hang over the earth in her times 
of moral darkness. The religion of Christ was heart- 
felt, and realized as his sustaining strength when earth 
threw her mantle of trouble around him. Religion, in 
the abstract, signifies harmony of soul with the divinity 
of purpose ; but the world has mixed the true purpose 
of religion with the outward show of mock ceremony, 
until one-half of the minds on earth to-day never dip 
deeper than the customs of past generations for succor 
to maintain the soul. What but the light of revelation 
from God's storehouse of intuitive reasoning could grasp 
this unseen lever of strength, and apply it for the 
world's improvement ! God shines forth his luminations 
of truth in every corner of the world's use. The 
gradual unfoldment of divine purpose creates no jar in 
the infinitude of mind and matter. The even hand of 
a beneficent Creator smooths all the rugged places by 
some straying ray of truth let loose for the occasion. Di- 
vinity shapes our course most unflinchingly. It is no ner- 
vous hand that grasps the rudder of our destiny ; it is 
no tremulous wave on the great ocean of eternity that 
moves our course of action. We were not dropped here 
without a purpose to culminate, without the power 
given us to locate our destiny, without the pickax of 
accumulation left within our grasp. God's law of rec- 
ompense never cheats us a particle, never sifts an error 
in our path but what Reason could pick to pieces if she 



THEODORE PARKER. 41 

willed to do so. But when we allow reason to lay dor- 
mant, and let out the job of thought to the highest 
bidder alter wordly renown, why call God a cheat, 
and say he has harnessed our team, but left us no driv- 
er, when it is plainly evident he intends us to be our 
own teamsters along the road of life ? And he has so 
fashioned our team, that it has the capacity for expansion 
or contraction ; the capacity for gaining strength by 
accumulation, or becoming weakened by disease. God 
ever stares us in the face with our mission ; ever puts up 
bars for us to climb over : and, if we fall in the attempt 
to master the difficulties in our pathway, the right hand 
of fellowship is extended from the spiritual platform to 
keep good our efforts at success. 



CHAPTER XII. 

The harmonial law is working in unison with the law 
of religious culture. There is sympathetic emotion be- 
tween the two elements of reform ; they are starting 
out on a tour of investigation, with the determination 
to assist each other in overcomino; the difficulties of 
priestly triumph. The harmonial law is destined to 
become the law of success. It has picked its way 
through numberless difficulties, and still steins the cur- 
rent of public disfavor. When the dynasties of Europe 
sought the overthrow of Charles the Second, it was in 
accordance with the primeval teachings of the ancestral 
line of successive generations, that no power but kingly 



42 THE SPIRIT-LIFE OF 

power, manifested in the gibbet, in racks of torture, and 
in the guillotine, or scaffold of impious sacrifice, should 
claim a seat at their national board of honor ; and 
hence the harmonious outreach of principle at that pe- 
riod was allowed no footing. But subsequent years 
have fostered the germ that sprouted when earth could 
not contain its growth. The Babylonish captivity was 
a more ancient onslaught on the principle of harmonial 
growth. The world was flooded to secure that harmony 
that after-years sought to overthrow. The Babylonish 
captivity served as food to maintain the fierce and cruel 
system through which the world was then passing ; and 
yet, in this nineteenth century of moral and intellectual 
growth, there is no work from the pen of any inspired 
writer, that can push its way up to the hearthstone of 
every nation as that time-worn book of fabled mythol- 
ogy and sanctified cruelty. The Bible, proclaimed as 
the word of God from every pulpit in the world, bear- 
ing the stamp of legalized Christianity, abounds in 
atrocities that this age can not enact, even in imagina- 
tion, without a shudder and a creeping-away of soul 
from the pictured scenes of ancient history, legalized to 
the world as God's token of mercy and love. I wonder 
at the fashion of keeping food that does not serve our 
purpose ; of passing round a dish that all partake of, but 
few like or relish : but I find, from my spiritual locality, 
that earth is creeping away from the trap set so many 
years ago, and sprung at every footfall of progress, 
until its springs are becoming old and rusty from decay. 
I hold no reverence for a system of laws that can not 
withstand the picking hand of Time, and remain firm in 
the united effort at success. I hold no reverence for 



THEODORE PARKER. 43 

a theologian who climbs the hill of science, and sprouts 
no new themes for the distilling dews of admixture 
to lift from the rubbish of the past. I hold no truth 
sacred, or beyond cavil, that flinches at the hand of in- 
vestigation. The Old World garners her stores of 
wealth in accordance with her valuation of monopolized 
grandeur and kingly assumption. The Old World is 
beating her bars of iron will against any invasion of 
democratic power. The master-spirit of ancient chiv- 
alry finds no response from their fattened cloisters of 
papal glory. England masters every emotion of sym- 
pathetic daring brought to her knowledge ; she allows 
no straying sheep from her fold of domineering great- 
ness ; she folds her hands with the utmost complacency 
over her systems of oppression. The serfs that flood 
her streets are a libel on her escutcheon of power ; she 
has never entered into compact with the spirit of Christ ; 
the herald of mercy has never entered her door of 
oppression, that is closed to every call but the one 
of moneyed interest. When England drives a more 
liberal team in this great world of cause and effect, she 
will feel the ennobling influences that wrought out free- 
dom on the American continent. The world is filled 
with oppressive systems ; and the Anglo-Saxon blood is 
the master-key that binds the cord of stringent measures 
around society. The Anglo-Saxon fibers that consti- 
tute the underpinning of American society are sprouting 
their helmet of strength into every channel of arbitra- 
tion in this great world of commerce and strife. There 
is no reason why America should not pick her way into 
every department of human zeal and courage. America 
should foster no feeling of supremacy, but should set 



44 THE SPIRIT-LIFE OF 

to work with a movement of soul to galvanize the 
heathen world with the aroma of knowledge and free- 
dom. The advantage America claims over all other 
countries is due to her liberal platform of deal ; is ow- 
ing to her free passports of strength, that slumber a 
dead weight on all other nationalities in the world. 
While I maintained my earthly tabernacle, I fought 
every system of oppression, I warred with every mon- 
ster that reared a head above the confines of public 
good. I have never changed one iota in my sentiments 
with regard to the demon of oppression in any form. I 
still hold to a legalized surrender of every perch that 
collects the fauna of society, whether that perch be hid 
from public view, or flaunted forth in genteel society. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

When the great war proclaims the world's salvation 
from the law of ignorance, then will the evils that now 
surround mankind drop apart, and light will shine 
through the darkened temples of defamation. There is 
nothing that so hampers the mind as distrust. It is like 
a darkened veil thrown before our outward vision, im- 
peding our progress, and making us stumblers on the 
highway of life. It is a true saying, that " life is a 
thorny road to travel ; " and many a bramble and thorn 
will spring up in our path unless we cultivate the soil 
as w T e proceed on our journey. Life is one long illus- 
trated roadway ; and the illustrations are pictures in 



THEODORE PARKER. 45 

allegory, descriptive of our inner struggles around temp- 
tations that beset our pathway. Earth is man's trial 
course of action. We may beat our prison-doors ever 
so much ; but, until the hand of Fate springs the lock, 
we are prisoners on the course of time ; anglers around 
the great bait of eternity, throwing our hook into ten 
thousand pools, to find it nibbled by some speculator on 
our field of action. There is nothing so worthy of in- 
vestigation as God's plan of salvation. It should claim 
the attention of every sane mind on earth ; it should be 
brought to the door of every child's understanding, 
there to await the light of reason to lay aside every 
barrier of restraint. The world has too long sought 
safety from destruction in her Hellenic authors of doubt- 
ful report. She should have a cataplasm or antidote of 
a soothing nature after this purging process of fire and 
brimstone that has lit the target hurled at so many gen- 
erations, and never swept the board of any of the evils 
it sought to destroy. I must say here and now that I 
pity any mind bound to any theology extant in the 
world, with no loophole of egress to confront the enemy 
of progress. The Sicilian captive, bound with the fet- 
tering chains of anarchy, was no more a captive than 
the stickler to one code of worship, one code of laws, 
and one code of morals, for this age of reasonable out- 
growth from dogmatic prejudice and assumption. What 
Hecletus saw on the Tower of Babel puzzled the Greek 
philosopher. He wondered at the idiosyncrasies of be- 
nighted Babylon ; he -wondered at the deformities of 
heathen barbarity. As system after system sweeps 
along the course of time, the liberal hand of justice 
points the way to the sunny side of life. Thermopylae 



46 THE SPIRIT-LIFE OF 

was destroyed to suit the exigencies of power. The Old 
World is filled with its sacrificial altars, its crisp and dry 
rubbish, that makes the Past seem like old age creeping 
along in its dotage to overtake the gay and happy child, 
who springs at the touch of the myriads of keys that 
unlock its bright and buoyant soul. The Past is the 
stagnant water in the great pool of life, and no drainage 
from the nineteenth century can bring so much as a 
silver ripple across its sullen face. Its shores will beat 
against the Future like a brand of despair hurled at the 
retreating enemy in advance. The mushroom type of 
society ignore present and future revelation ; they ac- 
cept the Bible as a moiety to sustain the even hand of 
Justice, that never flinches in doing an act of duty. Let 
our acquirements be what they will in the seeds of old 
theology, Justice never tampers with the affairs of men. 
She clothes herself with the habiliments of truth and 
equity, and warbles forth no strains of discord. Our 
pillar of strength is our fortitude to branch out in life, 
and hold on to the rein of just deal with our fellow- 
beings. I no longer marvel at inconsistencies in human 
nature. Every individual possesses the distinctive ele- 
ment to rear a platform of free purposes of action ; but 
there is always a hinge loose that makes the platform 
shaky, and beyond our control to manage to advantage. 
The next course pursued is, instead of seeking a remedy 
to remove the defect, we give up the ship entirely, and 
sink to the float-bridge, that is ever ready to catch the 
unstable and dilatory ones of earth. Human nature 
lays no plan of escape from the vestments of sin. Sin 
binds itself, with its armor of truth, to the purpose it 
serves. There is no sin but what has its concordant 



THEODORE PARKER, 47 

element of defeat crowing beside the still waters of 
despair. The word " sin " implies the absence of good ; 
sin Anglicized implies inharmony in the constituents 
moving our course of life. Now, the absence of the 
element which we all condemn, and which we all im- 
bibe, would leave the world in a state of nude purpose. 
The element of conflict is as necessary as the element 
of peace. Both rest quiescent in their orbit of perpetual 
movement. The gyrating hand of Time can never pick 
the system of good and evil apart. They are twins 
in the field of cause and effect ; they are co-workers 
for the kingdom of heaven ; Siamese in nature and prin- 
ciple to maintain the binding cord of unity of purpose 
to serve mankind. Sin has no separate purpose from 
good. It bears its relative value in the current arti- 
cles before the world. Sin never yet mastered the 
emotion of good. Good is more tranquil in nature than 
the opposing element, leading us to suppose the ascen- 
dency has been gained over the more quiet movements 
of the soul. After Nature has had her fits of howling 
discord, the golden-crowned monarch lifts his head ex- 
ultingly, and proclaims the sure defeat over assumptive 
power. We, in our nature, partake of the great solar 
systems that encompass our being. The laws that gov- 
ern our natural orbit on earth run parallel with the laws 
that govern the universe of matter. Mind is the deific 
figure, the stamp-mark branded on our ultimate posses- 
sions over gross materiality. 



48 THE SPIRIT-LIFE OF 



CHAPTER XIV. 

The solar systems govern the harmonial law of our 
interior individualization. The solar key unlocks the 
prisoned earth, and lets her captives free. The solar 
nucleus springs our system of nerve-power, unhinges 
our slothful habits, and awakens us to the grandeur of 
activity. We are a part and parcel of the great ma- 
chinery of natural laws, acted upon by every thing in 
the kingdom of Nature ; acted upon by every ray of 
light from the great mining-house of God ; prone to do 
evil because it is a concomitant in Nature ; prone to do 
good because that balances the wheel of error. Has 
not every person having a foothold on earth had to 
acknowledge the ever recurring presence of the smitten 
angel, that passed from the house of God with visor 
drawn, and the brand of dishonor hurled at his retreat- 
ing figure ? The Devil, it would seem, has occupied 
every seat of honor ; he has had his reign supreme on 
earth, and broke bread with the angels in Heaven ; and, 
to this day he rules the affairs of men with systematic 
precision of movement, coupled with a determination 
to revenue the insult shown him at the gate of heaven. 
The Devil rules by force of circumstances*: he picks 
his way with perfect adaptation to the call received and 
the means to overcome to obey the call. The Devil 
seldom asks charity : that spirit of meekness does not 
suit his dignity of purpose. I ever found in my earth- 
experience that the temptations of Satan ever followed 
on our letting down the bars at our vineyard of strength, 



THEODORE PARKER. 49 

and leaving no watch at the gap. The Devil is perfectly 
fool-hardy ; fear never enters the vocabulary of his 
speech ; he trails the flag of truce in the dust, and beats 
no retreat as long as the word " conquer" stares him in 
the distance : and another peculiarity his Majesty assumes 
is his deft and cunning ways, ofttimes leading us with 
his hand of skill, that assures us of perfect safety, when 
it is shaking with the palsied effort to maintain the dis- 
guise until we are anchored on the side of unsafe foot- 
ing. The Devil masters every emotion of guile, spread- 
ing his wings with perfect sangfroid; clasping you by 
the hand, and showing his face of honest integrity, but 
with a sly wink that bodes mischief in the future. And 
so on I might trace the subtle winding of King Evil to 
obtain a lasting footing with the children of earth : but 
as that is not my speciality in this present work, al- 
though, at some future time, I may show the monstrous 
bugbear, bearing the term Devil, to the world, holding a 
part in all materiality and in all spirituality, showing 
him to the world as a necessary evil, branded with con- 
tempt, but bearing the stamp of use. 



CHAPTER XV. 

There is one point to be gained over society before 
the harmonious element can sweep the world's board of 
error; and that one point is as defiant as the unsheathed 
weapon of a daring foe. This braggadocio of defen- 
sive skill is world-renowned for its activity in picking 

4 



50 THE SPIRIT-LIFE OF 

seeds of use from the dry and barren fields of theologic 
lore. There are, no doubt, morsels of worth interlaced in 
that mighty fabric composed to suit the emergencies of 
the heathen world. It never was designed or labeled 
food for all time : if such had been the case, why has 
the stamp of discontent found its way to the sideboard 
of every generation ? why have there been anglers 
after truth not found in sacred history ? why have our 
palates refused to discover the secret aroma that has its 
binding worth above any tinsel or glitter of false pres- 
entation ? The Bible is filled with its seeds of corrup- 
tion; its fields of bloody umpire, that the soul revolts 
and creeps away from. I ask of any mind to-day, lighted 
by the torch of reason, how the Bible version of the 
world's formation accords with their faculty of thought ? 
No sane mind at this age considers the miraculous con- 
ception of the world's birth, promulgated in history, as 
an appeal to their credit, unless the statement can be 
dressed in some figurative style to suit the demand of 
reason. Man's reason is his highest orbit of sense, his 
highest faculty of intuition, the lens through which he 
looks to detect the spurious from the true : reason is 
not soluble by any scales but the preponderating law 
of cause and effect. The world is fast losing its start- 
ing-point. It is no longer assumed by learned minds 
that it sprang from chaotic ruin, or that it took form in 
the space of one week, and rolled out into ethereality 
ready for the redeeming hand of man, not ,yet fash- 
ioned. I wonder at the inconsistency of thought. I won- 
der at the strange idiosyncrasies in human nature as 
applied to the religious element fostered in society. I 
wonder at man's faith to obtain succor from dry husks, 



THEODORE PARKER. 51 

potted down, and seasoned with the bitter herb of mal- 
ice prepense. It is a sad thought that human nature 
possessed the attribute to derive pleasure, hope, or sym- 
pathetic emotion, from the presentation of mock heroism, 
and selfish anarchy, protruded at an age when Devils 
were manufactured in heaven. Why is it that peo- 
ple go back for messages from God ? Why not receive 
them daily, and bind them as a truth about their hearts ? 
Why pick in fields that have been culled so long, to the 
exclusion of receiving fruit ready to be dropped by the 
angelic band traveling for the world's restoration to 
happiness and content ? 



CHAPTER XVI. 

Man fashions his own life ; that is, he binds the 
nectar of peace about his heart-strings, or fills his field 
with patches of barren waste. Youth should be early 
taught the financiering of life ; should early take up the 
lesson of self-culture ; should early promise a gift to the 
soul, and scorn to break the promise. Earth is filled 
with starry- s;ems that the recording an<xel is toiling to 
pick for his crown. The hope that is vested in uncer- 
tainty has the pinched-up expression of despair. Let 
the light of a just knowledge expand the well-springs of 
action, let mankind fill their storehouses with the good 
seed that ripens to advantage, and soon the world will 
be rid of the half-formed fruit that now appeals at the 
doorway of heaven. I have before remarked, that 
God's laws were a systematic course of activity, work- 



52 THE SPIRIT-LIFE OF 

ing round the great central sun of their orbit; and why 
should man show a less systematic course ? why should 
not each circle in his orbit of motion count as a benefit 
in the great stream of life ? Man needs to be awakened 
to the great responsibility of his mission in life ; he 
needs to be galvanized with the lightning-flashes from 
the great distillery-house of truth ; he needs to have 
the lighted taper of damnation hurled at the retreating 
figure of Sin : and its echoing wail will be an anthem of 
joy to the world. I have nearly completed the first 
canto of my spiritual state of existence. I have given 
it as a prelude, or connecting link, in the chain of my 
drifting life ; I have handed it back to the world simply 
as a stepping-stone to reach my present locality ; I have 
made this treaty of peace as connected as the circum- 
stances and conditions through which I have labored 
would permit of: it is simply grains of earth-culture 
given from a spiritual platform, and tied with a string of 
truth. I must touch one more point of my earth-career ; 
must pick up my staff of infirmity, and taste again the 
bitter cup presented by the hand of love. My last 
earthly journey was fraught with great inharmony of 
spirit. I was leaving my native shores ; was leaving 
my dear and time-tried friends ; was leaving 4he associa- 
tions of my whole ministerial career, entering upon a 
new field of adventure, with no strength of nerve or will 
to struggle in untried paths. My spirit beat its prisoned 
walls for freedom to lift the clouds that hung over my 
future. I knew that my friends were being entirely 
shut out from my future on earth ; I knew the destroy- 
ing angel was following in my wake, ready to lift me 
overboard when Earth had duly performed her mission. 



THEODORE PARKER. 53 

The angel of death is seldom met with pleasure. We 
can view his shadow in the distance, and feel no thrill 
at the danger he represents ; but when we see the 
enemy on our track, with no hope of re-enforcements, 
the battle-ground of life presents a sad and troubled 
scene. There is nothing in my whole earth-experience 
that so touches my memory with the halo of regret as 
the parting scene beside the ship that gave me passage 
to the sunny isle that now fosters the remembrance 
of the lengthened-out struggles of Theodore Parker. 
When I recall my death-bed scene, and mingle its waters 
with the tide of grief fhat assailed me at Boston Har- 
bor, I can not compare those graphic pictures, delineated 
on the tablet of memory, with any preponderance of 
affection shown or tears dropped at my departure. 
Boston claims my energetic investment of strength ; 
claims my manhood-endeavors to foster the seeds of love 
and harmony, and carry my weapon of courage to bat- 
tle the iron door of oppression that is swinging on its 
hinges for the release of human weakness, and emanci- 
pation from the errors of the past. 



CHAPTER XVII. 

One more word, and then I will pick up my spirit- 
staff, and point the way my footsteps are now tending. 
Earth holds her banner of strength in accumulated 
deeds. The tinsel and glitter of false pretense have no 
weight in the great scales of human happiness. All in- 



54 THE SPIRIT-LIFE OF 

dividuality must touch a vibrating cord in the under- 
current of human greatness. All mankind seek a 
culminating point of honor, seek the glory achieved in 
imaginative moments of worth to the soul. Earth is 
one vast play-ground, and all seeking to touch the goal 
of public acceptance. Every play has its reference of 
approval fixed in the minor scales of the world's judg- 
ment. Earth holds her banner of trust for all time : 
she has her despairing moments, and sees no end to the 
besetting curse of sin. But the illuminated points of 
God's beneficent purposes shine in on the troubled 
waters of Old Earth's career; and she folds again her 
hands with the full assurance that her rudder of strength 
is in the grasp of a propelling force anterior, and above 
her power of ability to control. When the majesty of 
this theme sweeps across the magnetic fibers of my soul, 
I feel the inspiration from the dissolving truths wafted 
through ten thousand channels, and speaking in their 
ever- varying tongues of hope, peace, and joy over the 
fruitions of earth. Mankind has only commenced drink- 
ing at the fountain of life. The waters that quench 
their thirst to-day are but a drop beside the majestic 
stream that will irrigate the ice-bound shores of Time. 
The deluge that shall next sweep the world will be a 
flood of truth ; and no ark of safety will need to ride its 
waters, and no dove will be sent forth to proclaim the 
subsiding of the elements of peace that will follow in 
the wake of truth. The altar-fires of heaven are 
glowing with revelations to be given to the world as fast 
as the hand of Science clears away the rubbish that has 
so long presided over the affairs of men. The auxiliary 
steps to betaken to clear the channels leading to the 



THEODORE PARKER. 55 

mythical heaven of all superstition, of all allegorical 
matter, of all the presumption of creeds, and of all false 
precepts and examples that darken the doorway of faith, 
and leave us stragglers around a truth we can not 
fathom, are these ; let Charity preside over the 
world's board of error ; let Love dip her wings in all the 
stagnant waters beside the stream of life, and let Wisdom 
lead the way to a correct understanding of the great 
central sun of our ultimate destiny ; and so let mankind 
journey, with the true knowledge, not born of hope, 
but in the science of God's word : and light will spring 
up in all dark places, and no stumbling-blocks will ap- 
pear on the roadway of life. 

THE END OF THE FIRST CANTO. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

It may seem strange for me to state my present abili- 
ty to preside over the affairs of mankind on earth ; but 
the statement is nevertheless correct, and I am impressed 
with the duty to explain spirit-elevation above the crude 
affinity of earth. This disclosure will test the utmost 
powers of comprehension, and still I will give it in as 
clear and lucid a manner as words can express the 
thoughts I shall utter. Spirit-communion has ever 
been an established fact ; and, although mankind have 
preached and prayed from that fountain of living worth, 
it has, until recent years, been clothed in mystery, and 
talked about as a world we could not fathom, as a world 



56 THE SPIRIT-LIFE OF 

of awe not soluble by any code of faith, or any power of 
comprehension that mind had attained to, until the gen- 
tle and low-toned raps were heard a't Rochester, and 
those silvery chimes, so fraught with hope and strength 
to the world, startled the nineteenth century, and awak- 
ened them to a sense of putting on a cap of thought, 
and sending out the spirit of investigation to fathom the 
significance of those unseen sounds. The world at laroje 
dropped the brand of " humbug " on those tiny efforts of 
spirit-control. The world has ever cried "humbug!" 
to a theory not understood, has ever assailed a truth with 
weapons of defense, and sought no advantage over the 
errors of the past ; but the wheel of Time has dropped 
truths for mankind to sift, regardless of any hue and cry 
of public favor. Will mankind please to remember that 
every advance step over ignorant assumption has dug its 
way through the fiery furnace of discordant elements, 
seared, scorched, and blasted by the infernal machinery 
of human laws ; but Truth ever seats herself with a tri- 
umphant smile, high and dry above any code of human 
enactment to frustrate or dishonor. Spirit-communion 
is the bar let down for the world's redemption and resto- 
ration from the sin of Adam's fall ; spirit-communion is 
the harbinger of the coming man that is to lead the way 
to life everlasting, and flood the world with a new bap- 
tism and a. new birth. Then will the glory of the Lamb 
appear in a cloud of truth over benighted Christianity, 
and the veil of mysticism and doubt will no longer hang 
over the world. I took my departure from earth, or, rather, 
from my material body, with the full assurance of reten- 
tive individuality. Up to the last moment of earth's mas- 
tery, I possessed my power of thought distinct, possessed 



THEODORE PARKER. 57 

the power to trace myself through space, possessed the 
faculty to feel myself in space ; my physical body was 
losing its charm, days before my spirit took its flight ; 
my bed of sickness was radiant with hope ; and I had 
the drifting halo of peace beside me daily. When, at the 
last hour of my stay with mortality, the death-film shut 
friends and attendants from my outward vision, my 
spirit took in the full and complete detail of the dying 
scene ; and, were I an artist, I could sketch it to the life, 
for it hangs in my gallery of memory fadeless, and dewy 
with the inspiration of loving friendship : I hold that scene 
in sacred keeping. I can not lift the spell that attaches 
me to earth, because the sympathetic cord is galvanized 
with the true essence of salvation ; that is, the dew of 
the harmonial law pervading all space : therefore, when 
I seek earth, I clothe myself with the ether dew of my 
habitation, and seek the corresponding element in hu- 
manity. I seek the cord of sympathy, or sympathetic 
emotion : that law runs parallel with the law of cause 
and effect. It may be well for me to explain the sym- 
pathetic law, or the binding law that runs through 
all materiality and through all spirituality : it is the 
force and coercive law that moves the machinery of 
Nature ; it is the cause of things made, and it be- 
gets its own formation. Like begets like in every 
code of order. The formation of worlds is accom- 
plished by the sympathetic movement of elementary 
matter. The cohesive strata in earth attach the pri- 
mates to a focus of strength ; and repeated effort at cen- 
tralization causes a rounded-out form of matter. Let 
me give an illustration ; take, for instance, a globule or 
drop of water ; condense that by freezing ; it may assume 



58 THE SPIRIT-LIEE OF 

a variety of shapes : but let a sympathetic sunstroke 
touch those particles of congealed water, and they in- 
stantly assume the rounded-out form of mother-earth, 
showing conclusively that the primates in matter strictly 
adhere to first principles. Dissolve particles of earth, for 
instance ; you will find that the minutest portion is in 
keeping with the great mass from which it was removed. 
This is a complex study, the law of centralization, the 
law that sticks to first principles. You can not destroy 
one particle of earth, you can not fix it or shape it, but 
what its ultimate will assume its mother-form ; and that 
same law runs through all substance. The formation 
system has its birth from a necessity in the financiering 
of elementary motion. The first driftings of earth's com- 
motion were crude efforts, not legalized in history, for 
the very reason that speech was denied our first par- 
ents. That effort in man was accomplished by elon- 
gated power over respiratory motion. Man in his first 
development was only removed from the beast by intui- 
tive reason, therefore, made capable of improvement, 
susceptible to external influences, holding a key of 
strength to unlock the cycles of time, and round out to 
the full estate of a world in motion. Man is but a coun- 
terpart of Nature: every element in the storehouse of 
earth finds its sympathetic monitor in man's outward 
construction ; and the radiating influences in man dip 
their beaks in the worlds that motionary earth has 
etherealized, and sent into space. That thought is glow- 
ing with grandeur, and finds sympathetic accordance in 
the world I now inhabit. Man radiates to his true pur- 
pose through the same law that particles of earth as- 
sume a standard shape ; but for the law of sympathy 



THEODORE PARKER. 59 

the world would be motionless, congealed into frozen 
antipathy, with no sunbeams to illuminate her secret 
springs of action ; and, but for the law of sympathy in 
the binding forces of intellectuality, there would be no 
stamp-mark to insure the meed of approval. 



CHAPTER XIX. 

Therefore, as I before stated, when I seek earth, I 
clothe myself with the conditions of earth, — clothe my- 
self in a condition to reach that atmosphere. It is merely 
a similitude of the changes that are necessary on earth 
to meet the changes in atmospheric pressure ; or it is 
simply a change of clothing to suit the locality we are 
journeying to. What satisfies the body in summer 
time is in no way suitable for a winter's atmosphere ; 
and when Earth fails in her atmospheric conditions to 
supply the part of man that belongs to her, then the 
higher law steps in to the rescue, and folds an arm of 
strength and sympathy around the spiritual element ; or 
that condition in man that needs a change of climate. 
Man possesses the element of change in exact ratio with 
the changes in Earth. We see the Earth with our vision 
of Earth ; but we can not with that Earth-vision see her 
secret springs of motion. Are we, then, to doubt the ex- 
istence of her ethereal life, — her life of silvery harmony, 
that throws off her crude material, and goes on with her 
work of reproduction, but always with reference to the 
higher law ; always changing her material, throwing off 



GO THE SPIRIT-LIFE OF 

the old, and putting on the new ; always clothing her 
spirit with new beauty and symmetry of design ? Earth 
has her spiral forces that, point heavenward. She holds 
within her receptacles the monitors that grasp the un- 
seen cords of sj^mpathy that keep green her fields, and 
ripen her vineyards of strength, to still farther the law 
of sympathy existing between her outward surface and 
the component parts of man's organic structure. You 
can not separate man from earth, because the law of 
sympathy outlasts time. There will ever be an element 
in man that will correspond with the intuition in Nature. 
Nature can not tell why she builds. It is not because 
she has not the power of expression ; for her face pro- 
claims her power of speech in ten thousand low and 
mellow sounds, and speaks in every variety of dialect 
that human nature can fathom. Still she refuses to 
utter the whys and wherefores of her existence ; but I 
ween, at "some future day, there will be a revelation from 
Old Nature that will fix her starting-point, and show 
the consistency of mind in matter. 



CHAPTER XX. 

The intuitive faculties in Nature correspond precisely 
with the intuitive law in man and animal. It is simply 
the capacity to draw productive power when needed, — 
simply the power to collect re-enforcements by the inter- 
nal element of demand. Man, animal, and Nature 
reach out the aspiring hand of want to the spiral foun- 



THEODORE PARKER. Gl 

tain of life, whose springs we can not see with Nature's 
vision, but whoso wealth we may feel in every strata of 
mind and matter. Heaven has fixed her stamp-mark on 
every particle of earth's fruition : she holds her claim 
serene and majestic, with no ripples of doubt to mar her 
cpiiet surface of content. Heaven and earth are part- 
ners for life. You can not divorce their system of ope- 
ration ; it is co-existent with the deity of purpose, twin 
in sympathetic emotion and vibratory accordance : and 
that they are nearing in their ultimate destiny is evident 
from the non-satisfaction evinced in bygone theories. 
Man is sure to bring heaven and earth together, because 
man holds the power to act from reason : all other vi- 
bratory activity is consequent on the law of cause and 
effect, or the law of give and take. Man is the focus 
of strength uniting the two worlds, sure to elevate the 
earth by taxation on heaven, if need be ; and as that is 
the last demand made for the benefit of humanity, it is 
evident that the past promulgation of theological bom- 
bast is losing its power of control, and humanity are 
seeking those fields of living green, whose fadeless worth 
will frustrate every ill that sorrowing Earth takes to her 
platform of use. 



CHAPTER XXI. 

My present locality, to use a symbolized expression, is 
a gem found beside the river of the stream of life. It is 
the pearl expressive of great future worth. I have ar- 
rived, by constant application, to the third constellation 



62 THE SPIRIT-LIFE OF 

of shining luster, — the third realm inhabitable in space. 
It is located in proximate affinity to Taurus or the 
Pleiades, that nebula of stars situated in the constellation 
of Andromeda. The atmosphere of my present locality 
is fragrant with the dew of hope : I am clothed in the 
vestments of a June morning on earth ; or, rather, I am 
clad in the white garments of peace. Clothing, in the 
spirit-world, is emblematical of the conditions of the soul. 
White signifies peace, a chastened condition gained from 
culture in every stage of development. My abode lacks 
nothing to my present growth ; every niche is filled with 
satisfaction to my soul. Those on the earth-plane who 
conjecture the soul to be mythical — a fleeting, shadowy, 
ethereal something, not tangible by faith or actual dem- 
onstration — will no doubt be surprised and incredulous 
when I here declare the soul to be a substantial, living 
embodiment of growth and consequent power. The soul 
is the essence of manhood or of childhood ; it is the intellec- 
tual tissues woven into symmetry of motion, — the think- 
ing apparatus distinct in operation, bearing similitude to 
its casket of clay. The man of earth-proportions is the 
husk that protects the kernel through the earth-experi- 
ence, no more needed when the kernel is ready for the 
harvesting. Earth takes care of her part with ready 
skill and consummate art, that hides her secret springs of 
action. Man was never known to search in earth for 
any thing belonging to himself: his intuitive reason 
points above the materialistic plane of life. What is 
there in Nature that satisfies man above the wants that 
Nature manifests? Man ever has a star of hope in the 
ascendant, ever an illuminated pathway leading from 
the grave, ever a pillar of strength in history, or some 



THEODORE PARKER. 63 

by-path of his own finding ; then wherefore is it, when 
we in spirit-life seek to make conjecture a living reality, 
seek to personify spirit-life, seek the divine afflatus of 
strength to carry our work on earth, that the opposing 
elements meet us with their pointed daggers of distrust, 
and a hang-dog look of shame at being found in the field 
of investigation for facts to corroborate the sly inklings 
of truth so often dogged at, but seldom hit. 



CHAPTER XXII. 

I will again resume my point of local bearing to the 
world, and test the credulity of my fellow-beings on 
earth. I before said, that white was emblematical of 
peace. My vestments are real to the sphere I inhabit. 
This ethereality, or spirit-costume, was taken on at w T hat 
is termed the death-hour. Let me here explain the 
procedure of spirit-ability to assume the ethereal cos- 
tume that the vision of earth can not detect. Let us 
assume that spirit is the breath breathed into man at 
birth. Can we, with our earth- vision, see that breath? 
see the power that ushers life into a structure formed 
through Nature's laws ? Are we, then, to doubt that 
power, that unseen capacity in man, that vibrates to the 
myriads of keys in Nature's wardrobe of use ? If man 
is to doubt every thing not in keeping with his earth- 
vision, then may he doubt his earth-existence because he 
can not see his power of life. His locomotive springs of 
action are hid from the outward view. It is only the in- 



64 THE SPIRIT-LIFE OF 

terior, the spirit, that feels the life-springs of motion ; 
feels the electric current permeating all space; feels the 
power to soar above the outward form ; and, possessing 
that power, it necessarily reveals itself. Therefore, when 
I say the soul walks away from its clothing of earth, I 
state a fact that is soluble to reason. 



CHAPTER XXIII. 

Were mankind to allow reason a freer scope, it would 
impart new vigor to the life-forces of action. Man has 
yet to learn that reason is the key that unlocks the 
scientific world, and brings the treasure of life to a basis 
of truth where no doubt can disturb its sure foundation. 
My ethereal life is clothed with vestments of substantial 
evidence to the society that occupy my sphere in the 
order of progression. The fabric in which we clothe 
ourselves is tangible to our sense of touch ; and, wdien I 
say it is all woven in the looms of earth, I state another 
fact that I must prove with the key of reason. The 
fabric, or illusory material, as earth terms spirit-clothing, 
is the finesse, or the art in Nature, of the outwrought ma- 
terials of earth. It is the fancy dictum of the interior 
design • it is the test-mark of inorganic substance, the 
nerve-portion underlying the outspoken design. Let 
me illustrate. In order to bring out a design, whether 
in substance to clothe a material body, or in the con- 
ception of some grander scheme, reared for the world's 
benefit, it is necessary to fashion the fabric or structure 



THEODORE PARKER. 65 

on the internal plane of thought ; and the mind that 
fashions on earth takes that same power of design to the 
higher sphere of use. The condition of the soul always 
seeks its affinity in artistic worth and ability. There- 
fore, when I say spirit-vestments are a condition of the 
soul, it is no more than saying that my earth-garments 
were the outwrought fancy or condition of my mind or 
soul. My fancy, when on earth, led me to the attire 
of black ; and now, when I near earth, I assume the 
old condition of mind. And those that see with the 
light of clairvoyance always see. me in my suit of black. 
Let me give another illustration. Take, for instance, the 
color of green. Now, the combination of oxidized gases 
compose the prismatic shades in that one color. Note, 
for instance, the shading of a rainbow. Does it ever 
occur to the public mind that man, on earth, helps to 
fashion the rainbow ? Let me explain the process by 
which it is done. Rainbows assume the different shades 
of coloring. Sometimes we see them span the heavens 
dressed in the rosy tints of morning ; at other times, they 
don their blue-tinted robes ; and ofttimes they appear in 
the shimmering dress of green, showing, conclusively, 
that the system of change is not confined to earth ; and 
also showing the disposition in ethereal space to har- 
monize and blend the true elements of purpose in con- 
structing the rainbow. As I before remarked, man on 
earth helps to fashion the rainbow through the law of 
give and take. Man on earth possesses the power, 
through chemical process, to embody the electric cur- 
rents or the prismatic shades that vibrate through the 
universe of color. Now, as man possesses the ability 
to embody the primates, or bring out a color from pri- 



66 THE SPIRIT-LIFE OF 

mordial confusion, lie possesses the power to embody 
that color in space ; and there it undergoes the process 
of blending. Those on earth who suppose that labor 
ceases at the expiration of material existence, will be 
surprised to know that the truth of labor is accomplished 
in the spirit-world, that the essence, or ideal, finds shape 
through the active energies of spirit-life. Color is a con- 
dition of the soul. I have my earth-conditioned gar- 
ments, my spiral-pointed armor, which bears the rosy 
hue of morning ; and my white robe of peace, that as- 
similates with my present condition of mind. I might 
here state that life is a condition of soul, — the only 
condition that remains firm to its trust, because life is 
soul, the intuitive essence that symbolizes structure, and 
manifests itself in out wrought design. 



CHAPTER XXIV. 

I will now take up my present condition in space : 
and, to the eye of faith, I am doing the Lord's will ; but 
in reality I am on the direct road of progressive movement, 
having followed out the dictates of conscience, my mon- 
itor of strength, in ushering me along the road of salva- 
tion, until this present time finds me in a condition to 
master every difficulty that impeded my progress on 
earth. My condition of soul is in harmony with the 
system of laws through which I labor. I am in no way 
constrained. Labor assumes its standard worth : each 
department has its pointer of use, directing me onward 



THEODORE PARKER. 67 

and upward to pick in fields not yet open* to earth. My 
road lies up the steep and rugged hill of duty. I claim 
no wings of flight aside from those tipped with the 
ether dew of use. 



CHAPTER XXV. 

I am at this present time folding the leaves of my 
past biography. It is written on the fine tissued sheets of 
vellum manufactured from etherealized substance found 
in the second sphere : it is a species of galvanized rubber- 
lasting prepared from oxidized gases or fluids ; it is 
done through chemical process, brought to a higher 
focus of power than earth claims at present. Galvan- 
ized rubber forms a part of the basis of etherealized 
atmosphere : it is the soluble part to the outward sense. 
The other portions of ether forming the electric currents 
in atmospheric conditions have their basis in the minu- 
tiaB of earth soluble to that code of reason that acknowl- 
edges the ether dew or the finesse dictum in all substance, 
— the portions of earth that throw off the strata or inor- 
ganic particles that compose space ; the portion that 
contains the sympathetic monitor, or the portion that 
graduates to intelligence. That may be a new thought 
to some, that matter contains any intellectual parts ; but 
there is a strata running through all matter possessing 
the component element of intellectuality. It was that 
same element in mother-earth that made man upright, 
and endowed with reason. Mother-earth has ceased to 
build from the bygone fashion, because the necessity is 



68 THE SPIRIT-LIFE OF 

passed ; and the higher law came to the rescue as soon as 
reason could exert a sway outside of primordial sub- 
stance. Then Nature had accomplished her highest 
effort, and man then possessed a key to unlock old Na- 
ture, and bring her to the platform of investigation, to 
find her subtle element or elements that compose the 
spiral points of reason. In a work that the ensuing 
spring will bring before the public, the Alpha and Omega 
of spirit-claim on and over the rudimental shaping of 
earth will be tested. The work I here advertise will em- 
brace the primordial confusion of matter, and bring out. 
the strata of mind that wrought structure and shape 
from confused inliarmony of chaotic ruin. 



CHAPTER XXVI. 

My present condition of life is rather picturesque : I 
have my harbor of refuge, my home of secret pleasure 
and thought, my fancy-wrought Castle of Ease in the 
ascending scale of progress. I think every person has 
a local habitation of ease somewhere in the future ; and 
that breastwork, thrown up for the soul to reach and 
mount, keeps green the field of hope, and leads us out 
to span the unseen shores of time and eternity. My 
present home winds its sustaining arm of strength around 
my every wish and purpose. I find gifts for the soul in 
every corner of my local habitation- Let me here de- 
scribe my seat of honor, or, in other words, give the ex- 
act dimensions of my spirit-home. As I before stated, my 



THEODORE PARKER. 09 

local resort is situated in the third sphere, near the con- 
stellation of Andromeda : it bears the tropical clime along 
its smooth and undulating plots of verdured green. My 
mansion of rest from active duty is in the suburban style, 
with broad parterre and sylvan haunts that vibrate to 
the mystic touches of my white-robed angel friends. But 
to make my home more definite, more tangible to earth, 
I will give it in the form of a parable ; I will dress it up 
in allegory, but with the stamp-mark of truth facing 
every side of my spirit-edifice. We term spirit the life, 
the pulp of being, the interior casket, that takes pre- 
cedence in going a journey, or going to rest, or in any 
effort that requires movement. The spirit first starts the 
team of strength that moves the outward edifice. Let us, 
then, suppose the interior portion of man, the casket of 
strength, the pulp of being, desires to outstrip time ; de- 
sires to build from the interior plane of thought ; that is, 
desires to fashion a structure that time can not control. 
The very desire is out wrought on the spirit-camera in 
space ; the desire is the structure. You desire to build 
a material edifice ; that is, you desire the protection of 
the material body, and your mind fashions from material 
substance : but, in every particle of material substance, 
there is spirit-architecture, there is life wrought out in 
what seems dead structure. Now, the homes upreared 
from thought and application on the earth-plane are da- 
guerreotyped on soluble atmosphere, before the earth- 
provision is made. We speak of weaving our castles of 
fancy when those fancy-wrought castles are the real 
structures of endurance that Time apes at, but only 
reaches in a bungling manner. We can not build on the 
earth-basis as finely as spirit can conjecture ; and why is 



70 THE SPIRIT-LIFE OF 

that nonconformity to thought apparent in every sym- 
bolized edifice on the footstool of Time, if thought found 
in matter its fruition of purpose ? 



CHAPTER XXVII. 

My spirit-home is an establishment of unpretending 
merit as far as its local purposes are concerned, or as far 
as it supplies the attachments that the past can claim. 
It serves as my restaurant of growth at present, or my 
refuge from impending storms that threaten every cargo 
of strength on the boundless sea of Time. Let me here 
state that eternity is Time, an outreach from the system 
of days, weeks, months, and years ; but still it is Time on 
the wing. A higher schedule of purpose, a loftier tone 
of thought, propelled by the steam-car of progress. My 
spirit-home has a foundation-site that borders on the 
stream of Life ; it fronts the chapel of Duty, and has a 
corner hedge of Doubt to dispel the inglowing ease of 
conditional circumstances. My home is adorned with 
pictures of art ; the walls are frescoed with the true art 
in Nature. I have my study-room, my system of study, 
or my system of thought, brought to actual use ; I have 
my reception-room, where I meet my spirit-friends in so- 
cial converse, where we gather strings of pearls, and 
count them for the benefit of each other. My friend 
Rufus Choate proposed to me at one of our usual 
gatherings the utility of constructing a system where 
the electric band can be used, and spirits en rapport with 



THEODORE PARKER. 71 

mortals etherealize the electric current passing round 
the band, and thereby assimilate space to the under- 
standing of the medium operator : that would be wor- 
thy of investigation on earth ; and the construction of 
the band will teat spirit-ability to personify themselves 
on independent conditions. A word to the wise may 
be productive of beneficial results, and the harbinger of 
the opening day when the glory of the heavens will ap- 
pear, not in the burning bush, but in the mellowed tints 
of pearl-freighted paradise. 



CHAPTER XXVIII. 

In constructing the band for spirit-messages or spirit- 
personations, it will require some skill in management. 
The band should be made of perforated isinglass ; the 
punctures should be very fine, and made equidistant from 
each other. The ones operating in spirit-realms have a 
basis of rubber, that being more easily procured ; but, for 
earth-purposes, the isinglass would be more preferable, 
because atmospheric conditions would have less effect, 
and isinglass could be brought to a finer state of con- 
sistency. Let the band be made from one to two inches 
in width ; let the perforations be accomplished with a 
very fine pointed instrument. This band can be worn on 
any portion of the body, only graduate the size. Isin- 
glass can be brought to a state of elasticity by the chem- 
ical process of blending oxylized gases, or the nitrate of 
silver in harmonious parts with the fundaments of gluti- 



72 THE SPIEIT-LIFE OF 

nous substance. The band can be made with very little 
expense, and would be very beneficial in detecting spirit- 
power. Spirits can only work under conditional cir- 
cumstances, as man on the earth-sphere has to deal 
with the conditions requisite to the purpose he serves ; 
and let me here state, that conditional spiritualism must 
take root before the true element will flourish. Man- 
kind, in seeking spirit-communion, should first seek the 
conditions whereby spirits can come en rapport with mor- 
tals. If man on earth seeks a change of destiny or 
circumstances, seeks a change in his local bearing to the 
world, every condition requisite for the change is ob- 
served ; but, when man conies to spirit-conditions in 
spirit-manifestations, he seems to ignore every system 
or combination-force in their mode of communication. 
How is it that man drinks in so little sense when diving 
for the pearl of great price that has so long been in deep 
water ? 



CHAPTER XXIX. 

Let me now take up my occupation, and bear my bur- 
dens back to the world, to be there tested and weighed 
in the balance with common sense and justice of acknowl- 
edgment. The majority of people on the earth-plane 
of existence suppose that spirit-life is divested of all care 
and labor, that we float in space, or have seats of honor 
surrounding the throne of God, where praise and thanks- 
giving is the continual theme of evangelical life. Now, 
those who accept that life of ease and worship will 



THEODORE PARKER. 73 

look upon my life as being too practical for heaven ; 
but those who knew me on the earth-principle of life 
would fully understand my incapacity for serving dead- 
letters. That may seem impious ; but, to a reflective 
mind, God's throne of worship is the universe of deeds, 
and God's realms of space are glowing with the active 
energies of disembodied mortals. All labor must have 
a systematized footing ; must have aqueducts of use lead- 
inn- from that system, and pillars of strength to sustain 
the embryotic principle of worth that maintains its posi- 
tion above any altar of pride, or distilled flummery that 
mankind manufactured from the idle driftings of polished 
fastidiousness and corrupt inglory of content. 



CHAPTER XXX. 

My spirit-home has never frustrated one desire of my 
earth-ability to perform my duty of purpose in main- 
taining my system of thought toward the high and holy 
calling of promulgating the true seeds of the Christian 
religion. My spirit-life takes form in active works : I 
see my way through active precision of movement. A 
friend of mine called at my study a short time since for 
the purpose of investigating the by-ways of poverty in 
the Second Ward of Progress. My friend stated the 
condition of one district or locality where God's pruning- 
hook of knowledge had scarcely found an entrance. 
The inhabitants of that locality are steeped in famine 
and want : they are the offshoots from the lower grades 



74 THE SPIRIT-LIFE OF 

of social life on earth. And let me here state, that heav- 
en's door is open to all life ; but the platform has a 
signal-gun that fires a bullet of disapproval at every 
intruder that shows a lack of the current material sur- 
rounding the gates of Paradise. 



CHAPTER XXXI. 

I have many ways for the exercise of energetic effort. 
I have a school where the sciences are expounded ; 
where we bring earth up for proofs in her keeping that 
will expand our altars of thought, and cause earth to 
appear like the background in some fairy-scene. Earth 
holds her pent-up treasures with the grasp of despair. 
The fore-wind of knowledge is sweeping her fettered 
fields, and laying waste the props that sustain her dy- 
nasties of ignorant power. Earth has never yet laid 
open her secret caverns for the world's investigation. 
The law of ignorance has bound her selfish chains until 
the stroke from the fire-altars of heaven proclaimed the 
victory over benighted Christendom. My soul cries out 
for light, for gifts outside of the impending stroke of 
pen. I would fain call down God's truths from wells 
overflowing with love, light, and knowledge ; from 
worlds that span the broad arena above my platform of 
comparative growth. But the World must be handled 
with gloved fingers : it will not do to hasten her devel- 
opment. The ploughshare of Truth cuts deep and wide, 
and also bears a leveler in front to beat aside the cor- 
rupt cumbranees of Time. 



THEODORE PARKER. 75 



CHAPTER XXXII. 



My spirit-life bears unction of grandeur and power in 
thought and purpose to serve mankind as long as ser- 
vices from my sphere of gleanings are required or needed. 
I am laboring now to establish free moral government, 
independent of sex, color, hierarchy, or monarchy ; in- 
dependent of creed, statue, or the press. That may seem 
a broad sweep for freedom ; but it is, nevertheless, the 
true aim of freedom. Individualization is sure to be ac- 
complished. Each mind must become a world unto it- 
self; and every star that sets in the ascendent throws 
out a focus of liojit that illuminates the channels of earth. 
My duty lies in the direction of all fettered institutions 
of reform ; and, while I seek to dispel evil in spirit-life, I 
seek an open portal to reach earth, and lay my flag of 
truce beside the quartered enemy of doubt and fear. I 
have the glowing thought of use ever beside my wan- 
dering footsteps, ever prompting me to search and find 
for the storehouse of memory and for the storehouse of 
humanity. You can not separate the element of pur- 
pose existing between memory and humanity : they are 
co-existing in friendship, parallel in purpose to serve each 
other, and deft in the use of instruments propelling their 
movements. Memory holds her shield of thought high 
and dry above the conditions of time, and bears her emi- 
nent seat back to earth by the overland route, and seeks 
no other way, only the one left open by cause and effect. 



76 THE SPIRIT-LIFE OF 



CHAPTER XXXIII. 

Spihit-life lias too loner hung a dead-weight on the 

shoulders of Time. The incubus of ease and quiet that 

has so long surrounded the throne eternal is preparing 

graduated seats, and for ever closing the passage to that 

long leap in the dark that has for ages hung a pall of 

terror around the destiny of man. Wherefore has this 

change been wrought ? and wherefore are mankind seek- 
er o 

ing the element of purpose in their outreach after 
heaven ? Is it not because God's favored few fail to 
procure a hearing at the seat of reason ? and is it not be- 
cause mythology sickens the soul, and dampens the ener- 
gies of faith and hope ? The nineteenth century is 
seeking a new heaven and a new earth. The spirit of 
energetic movement feels cramped and dwarfed in pur- 
pose in the confined atmosphere of sectarian by-paths 
and lodgments for the soul's ease and immolated darino-. 
The spirit of unrest is traveling the earth, seeking the 
items that the hand of Fate drops in the car of Time ; 
and the spirit of unrest is ushering in the New Jeru- 
salem ; is picking up the staff of common sense, and 
traveling out on the progressive road that leads to ulti- 
mate success, and also leads to ultimate happiness by the 
diverging lines drawn by active duty in every vineyard 
on the course of time. 



THEODORE PARKER. 77 



CHAPTER XXXIV. 

Let me here say, that my present occupation is just 
as real, just as much an embodied fact, just as much an 
effort to cany out a purpose, to culminate a design 
formed by the will, as was any effort I ever made on 
earth to further a scheme fostered by my reason. There 
is no such thing as an illusion : every shadow has its 
substance ; and every inlaid principle its embodiment in 
art. Spirit is the reality of a personated being, the 
life-giving element to design^ the spiral point that reaches 
above matter, the focus of power on earth, and the ul- 
timate of man. Spiritualization is the heaven of earth, 
the finale of all matter. The world will never know 
where it left its material body, never realize the utter 
baptism of dogmatic prejudice. The world is nearing a 
great social earthquake : there will not be so much as a 
pillar left of the old formula and systematic worship, and 
by -plays of social epologue, that furnishes a whip and 
driver, but no fitting harness, to travel the road of life 
in. Society must outgrow its stern decree of rule, its 
system of slavery, that furnishes a beaten track that in- 
dividual effort must walk in. I ignore the force of rule ; 
I ignore any system that carries the lash of coercion, and 
the hoodwink of public deception to the world's arena 
of strength. I may not give another combined experi- 
ence to the world. This work has occupied my leisure 
moments since the 24th of July last ; and, in giving 
it to the public, I have labored under great disad- 
vantages : but I would have it fully and distinctly 



78 THE SPIRIT-LIFE OF 

understood, that I have carried the point for which I la- 
bored. Let me touch one more point of spirit-duty, 
give one more galvanic shock to the world ; and then I 
will prepare for publication the work I have before al- 
luded to, entitled " Marigolds by the Wayside." It will 
be the prose and poetry of life, the actual and ideal, 
which is the actual imperfectly understood. 



CHAPTER XXXV. 

AN APPENDIX TO THE FOREGOING WORK. 

In giving an appendix to this work, it will be neces- 
sary to state my object in so doing. Human nature is 
prone to doubting ; prone to see what is not, in prefer- 
ence to what is. I can not divest myself of the idea 
that 1869 will leave the world flooded with more truth 
and knowledge than any previous year in the calendar 
of Time. The reason of my adding an appendix to a 
work already completed is the faith I have in words 
coupled with works ; and I never yet finished a subject 
of thought, but what more could have been said to ad- 
vantage. That may seem egotistical ; but egotism, to a 
certain extent, is necessary. It would be unwise to ig- 
nore the true art of thinking. The true purpose of 
thought serves in the world. Thought is the essence 
of a purpose, the aroma that floats around a design ; 
thought is the distilling dew to meditation, the secret 
spring that puts the machinery of the world in motion. 



THEODORE PARKER. 79 

Therefore, when thought seeks to gather for the service 
of mankind, let the seeds of appreciation sometimes drop 
by the wayside. 



CHAPTER XXXVI. 

In fitting out a ship to cross the ocean, great care is 
observed in having every part serve the purpose for 
which it is designed ; and so, when man starts out on 
the voyage of life, it is well to have his sails set in the 
right direction ; to have his ship of thought bear anchor 
at every port where science and philosophy have dropped 
a cargo to be lifted on board for the world's strength 
and honor. Mankind, as a general principle, lack in 
the system of thought ; lack the power of application to 
delve out a structure whose basis is an inlaid principle 
of mind. The power of mind is, to a great extent, 
fashioned from necessity. Man never attains to his full 
hight when cradled in the lap of luxury. It is the stern 
winter of adverse circumstances, the stern decree of 
Fate weaving its web of cunning meshes with the intri- 
cate finger of Content, to be thrown around the first 
bidder for honors in the kingdom of heaven. Thought 
fashions from a necessity in the motionary elements of 
Time. There is no expansion to thought unless excited 
from the outside world ; unless the reins of government 
bo thrown at the organ of visual sense, and caught at 
by the finger of Want: and then Thought steps down 
from her pedestal of ease, and manufactures skill from 



80 THE SPIRIT-LIFE OF 

the conception of use. Thought is only indolent from 
non-ability of physical movement ; whether it be insuffi- 
ciency in organized parts or the inactivity of muscular 
effort, both have the neutralizing effect on the viscera 
of sense. Indolence is the moth that eats away the 
time-table of man, and leaves him floating in space, aim- 
less, purposeless, and almost soulless ; a drug to be fos- 
tered by the energetic law of recompense. Man on 
earth is fool-hardy and unwise to tamper with time, to 
let his well-springs of thought dry up and choke to death 
for the want of a balance-wheel in the outside world to 
light up the springs of action to furnish the evidences 
that he has lived, and lived to a purpose in life. 



CHAPTER XXXVII. 

The Carthagenian War spread its devastating influ- 
ence around the whole Romish empire : the feudal force 
of arms swept the Roman Senate clear of the pillared 
wrongs, that, year after year, had convened at the citadel 
of strength. War ever holds a purifying tone in the 
background ; ever lights the future with a torch of hope, 
and feels the victory won as a new start on the road of 
principle. The true essence of w r ar is purification ; and 
the next-signal gun will be fired at the national treasury- 
house of Sin. The Future of earth will burnish her board 
of deal with a lithographic design, where principles will 
rear an honest background, and the children of earth 
can be seen reflected with new aims to fashion their ca- 



THEODORE PARKER. 81 

reer in life. The tidal wave of Time moves the great 
ocean of man's eventful career ; era after era sweeps 
along the uneven track of the world's destiny. The 
harbinger of peace ever walks in the ascending path- 
way ; the glory of the rising generation will be wafted 
on high by the trumpeters of truth that will be set over 
the lost tribes of Israel. 



CHAPTER XXXVIII. 

The world is nearing the great blending crisis when 
Jew and Gentile will drink of the wine prepared as a 
ritual of saving ordinance, and a breastplate of church 
desecration. It is time that the blood of Christ be served 
from the standpoint of principle, instead of the upheaved 
holocaust of sacrificial altars and synods of heterodox 
mummery. The Christian era is laboring out of her toils ; 
is bending the bow of promise to every rational mind, 
and liftincr the salvation-seat above the shoes of men. 
The Christian era was born of a principle ; the out- 
wrought structure of Christ mingled its healing in- 
fluence with the old Jewish assumption of power and 
idolatrous worship. Christ's first presentation was from 
a humble standpoint of view. He was the meek and 
loving Saviour, the one with God in spirit, the one 
clothed with immortality for the whole race of mankind ; 
but successive years have changed the whole outward 
bearing of Christ's mission on earth. Who thinks of 
worshiping Christ in sackcloth and ashes at the present 



82 THE SPIEIT-LIFE OP 

time ? Who, of all that are seated along the broad-aisles 
of the world's fashionable churches drink in the true 
spirit of the Christian Godhead ? Christ is the adorning 
grace in every sanctification-seat reared for the world's 
benefit ; but it is the outward emblem that precedes the 
inglowing beauty of the loving Jesus. It is plain to be 
seen that Christ's spirit of meekness is not the dress 
worn on the all-important once a week, when the true 
spirit of the Christian religion is dwarfed, and worn like 
a plaster of penance, to be removed when the " Amen " 
drops from the pillared sanctuary: it is plain to be seen 
that Christ is dressed in Mgy ; that his adorning grace 
is an outside covering, worn for the benefit of public 
opinion. "When Christ becomes the standard-bearer of 
principles instead of the background to a system of 
slavery, and the holly-branch to wave for the world's 
pride and egotistical bearing, then will Gethsemane 
sprout the true basis of the Christian era. 



CHAPTER XXXIX. 

My next work will contemplate the duties of the 
Christian religion ; show the true meaning of Christ, 
or, in other words, the prose and poetry of his career. 
It will be delving some ways for first principles ; but, in 
order to have a solid foundation, there must be an under- 
current from which to fashion the living stream. There 
is nothing so conducive to happiness as a firm trust on 
an unperverted God. Nothing so expands the mind as 



THEODORE PARKER. 83 

searching for the imperishable seed from which our lives 
took root. The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, 
still flourishes the wand of peace around the world's 
board of salvation. The God of Israel speaks in all the 
modern dialects, and in all modern institutions of reform, 
and in the whispering winds that proclaim the shattered 
glory of the olden anarchy of wrongs. Future years 
will rear a Godhead or Principality of Power that will 
flourish like the green bay-tree, and throw out a branch 
of hope to every soul on the highway for the principle 
of life. Justice demands a change in the Godhead ; and 
the law of equity and right are clamorous to establish 
the principle of Infinite Power beyond the reach of a 
personal God to demolish. The tread- wheel of Time 
will lay an evacuation-fee on all the incidental whipping- 
posts and scourging-rods that ignorance has reared by 
the wayside. God will yet speak to the understanding 
of mankind. He will yet rear a foundation-seat in the 
world that the mind can grasp, and see the safety-valve 
through which the world will pass to its regeneration- 
seat. 



CHAPTER XL. 

I must give this work to the world from my stand- 
point of spiritual growth ; and, from a spiritual stand- 
point, I must dedicate the element of reform. I would 
have the Alpha and Omega of spiritualism an abiding 
emblem of contentment and peace. I would have the 
Rock of Ages cleft to the center, and fashioned to the 



84 SPIRIT-LIFE OF THEODORE PARKER. 

understanding of mankind ; I would have the beauty of 
Christ's life worn as an every-day suit by the world's 
nationality; I would have Christ triumph in a world he 
came to save, and in a world that has so loner lighted its 
taper of knowledge at his fountain-head ; I would have 
Christ the recognized element along the road of progress ; 
and, finally, I would have Christ the redeeming quality 
in mankind, the star whose splendor is to reflect the 
kingdom of heaven on earth. 



THE END. 



SPIRIT LIFE 



THEODORE PARKER, 



NARRATED BY HIMSELF, 



THROUGH THE MEDICMSHIP OF 



MISS ELIZABETH RAMSDELL. 



BOSTON: 
PRINTED FOR THE AUTHOR. 

1870. 



